Rio Tinto to start slashing jobs in Melbourne and Sydney

Global miner Rio Tinto is due to start slashing jobs in Melbourne and Sydney as it deals with falling commodity prices and soaring costs.

Even the company's small Sydney office employing 30 people would close, while at its Melbourne office where about 240 administrative staff work, a larger number would be let go, though it will continue to function as a corporate head office.

However, around 200 workers at the technology and innovation research centre in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora would remain largely unaffected.

A few roles would be relocated to operating division hubs in Perth and Brisbane.

Both Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese and head of Australian operations David Peever have emailed staff over the last month regarding plans to cut support and service costs by 10 per cent around the globe.

They point out that they are building resilience and controlling costs at a difficult time, which includes reining in costs at a difficult time, when commodity prices were falling and the debt crisis in Europe continued to rage.