A long-awaited merger between Swiss commodities trader Glencore with mining giant Xstrata has won a green light from China's regulator, clearing a key final hurdle, Glencore announced Tuesday. Glencore said Beijing had given its backing on condition that after the merger the group sells its interest in the Las Bambas copper mine project in Peru to Chinese-approved players by the end of September 2014. noo-jwf/gd

By Clara Ferreira-Marques LONDON (Reuters) - China's antitrust authorities removed the last obstacle to Glencore's $30 billion (19.6 billion pounds) takeover of miner Xstrata on Tuesday after the commodities trader agreed to sell a $5.2 billion mining project to ease its grip on copper. Xstrata's Las Bambas mine in Peru had been expected to be sacrificed to secure the approval of China's Ministry of Commerce, but Glencore also agreed 8-year commitments covering the supply of copper, zinc and lead to China.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> <RIO.L> will initiate major cost-cutting measures under its new chief executive as the Anglo-Australian miner combats a sharp downturn in demand for industrial commodities. For projects started during the now-defunct mining boom, unchecked costs have become a No. 1 priority for resource companies facing a less robust customer in China, the world's biggest importer of iron ore, copper and other industrial staples.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Tuesday forecast global iron ore production of 265 million tonnes this year after posting record output in the March quarter. The mining titan said its global iron ore production from operations in Australia and Canada increased to 61 million tonnes in the three months to March, up four percent on the same period last year. This came despite three tropical cyclones in the quarter at its Pilbara business in Western Australia which forced shiploading to be suspended or slowed for several days.