Anglo American, the FTSE-listed commodities giant, is in serious trouble and is set to cut around 85,000 jobs, roughly two-thirds of its staff, according to reports from AFP and The Wall Street Journal.

The company has already announced on Tuesday that it has been forced to undertake what it calls a "radical" restructuring of its business to try to weather the commodity crash, and it looks as if things are getting even worse.

The company unveiled a whole raft of changes to its business, and it isn't lying when it says they'll be radical.

The news of the changes came just one hour after another mining giant announced it was being forced into action to fight the commodity slump. The British-Australian firm Rio Tinto revealed that it needed to cut capital expenditure over the coming years.

For Anglo American, there are so many changes and cost cuts being put in place that it's pretty hard to keep up, but these are the most important:

• The world's largest platinum miner will undertake a programme to dump roughly 60% of its total assets. In 2014, the company reported having total assets of around £44 billion ($66 billion), so the consolidation could remove as much as £26.7 billion ($40 billion) from Anglo's balance sheet.


• Anglo won't pay shareholders a dividend in 2015 or 2016, something that had been widely predicted. In November, an analyst note from HSBC quoted by the Financial Times suggested that Anglo could save around £730 million ($1.1 billion) by suspending its dividend.


• It will cut costs by £2.5 billion ($3.7 billion) by the end of 2017. The cuts will come in three chunks; £1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) this year, £730 million ($1.1 billion) in 2016, and a final £670 million ($1 billion) in 2017.


• Anglo will dispose of certain parts of its business, including its phosphate and niobium mining operations, hoping to raise around £2.7 billion ($4 billion).


• The company's six businesses will be consolidated into just three: De Beers, the diamond mining arm; Industrial Metals; and Bulk Commodities.


• De Beers' and Anglo American's London office will merge in 2017.

Anglo American was already restructuring, but it says the new changes are part of a plan "to transform the company's competitive position and create a more resilient business to deliver sustainable shareholder returns."

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