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LONDON — Anglo American PLC said it would cut 85,000 jobs over the next several years globally as part of a sweeping restructuring, a drastic response by one of the world’s biggest mining companies to the prolonged slump in raw-materials prices.

The plan from the London-based company — which has large operations in South Africa, Chile and Australia — includes asset sales, layoffs and other job reductions, and the suspension of dividend payments. Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said in a conference call Tuesday that Anglo, founded in 1917 by mining mogul Ernest Oppenheimer, will be “a very different company” after it follows through on the restructuring plan.

The moves, which the company called “radical,” mark one of the forceful responses from a major mining company to a relentless plunge in commodities.

Slackening demand from China, even as miners ramp up production, has weighed on the prices of nearly every commodity, from copper and iron ore to coal, all of which Anglo produces.

The onslaught is forcing miners to make tough choices including dividend and cost cuts, asset sales and debt-reduction plans.

New projects have been put on ice and expansion plans scrapped in a downturn many industry veterans say is the worst they have ever seen.

Swiss mining and trading giant Glencore PLC in September suspended its dividend and raised $2,5 billion in stock as part of a plan to cut its net debt by more than $10 billion.

Glencore’s stock has seen a sharp selloff, tumbling nearly 30 percent in a single day of furious trading later that month, as investors fret that sharply lower commodity revenues could result in crippling credit-rating downgrades.

Even more-resilient iron-ore giants Rio Tinto PLC and BHP Billiton Ltd. have been put on their heels. Rio Tinto on Tuesday said it cut its spending plans for 2016 to $5 billion from roughly $6 billion.

BHP, whose shares recently hit a 10-year low, has been scrambling to react to a dam failure in Brazil unleashed a torrent of waste and killed at least 13 people.

Anglo’s announcement rattled investors. Its stock fell 12 percent to an all-time low in London trading Tuesday. Other miners were hit, too: Glencore shed 6.9 percent, Rio Tinto slid 8.4 percent and BHP dropped 5.5 percent. Overall, the FTSE 350 mining index fell 7.1 percent.

The deep cuts appeared to catch investors by surprise, raising concerns that Anglo’s situation is more dire than previously thought and sparking broader concerns about the rest of the industry, said SP Angel analyst John Meyer.

“The market is painting a bear-case scenario as to the unexpected radical shake-up going on within Anglo,” Meyer said.

The steep cuts imply “Anglo is preparing itself for a potentially prolonged period” of low commodity prices, he said.

Other factors weighing on mining shares and metals prices Tuesday included Brent crude dropping to below $40 a barrel, lower November exports from China, the world’s second-largest economy, and expectations that the US Federal reserve will raise interest rates.

U.K.-based Anglo, the world’s fifth-largest mining company by market value, said it plans to get rid of as much as 60 percent of its mines to focus on a smaller number that can be profitable even during a downturn. Anglo also said it expects to incur impairments of $3.7 billion to $4.7 billion in 2015, largely due to weaker prices and asset closures.

Anglo is likely to look for buyers of some of its platinum and coal assets in South Africa, though the company said Tuesday it planned to retain a solid presence in the country, where it has had a presence for nearly a century. It Is also weighing the sales or shutdown of poor-performing mines in Australia and Latin America.

The company said asset sales and closures of unprofitable businesses would result in a workforce of 50,000 employees, down from 135,000 today. The job cuts are far greater than the workforce reduction the miner announced in July, when it said it expected to lose 53,000 positions.

The job cuts will take place over several years, with expectations of a total workforce of 92,000 by 2017, the company said. Anglo didn’t say when it expected its workforce to reach 50,000.

“We think the best answer for our shareholders is to go down to smaller, high quality, more resilient portfolio where we think we can deploy capital more effectively,” Cutifani said Tuesday.

The pared-back business will remain broadly diversified among base metals such as copper, bulk materials such as coal and iron ore and diamonds. Still, the recent selloff in Anglo’s stock has raised questions about its pursuit of a diversified business model. More concentrated miners, such as BHP and Rio, which derive about 60 percent of adjusted earnings from iron ore, have fared better during the slump, since their assets are extremely low cost and remain profitable.

Anglo said it would consolidate its business into three units from six and increased its target for selling assets to $4 billion from its previous minimum of $3 billion, including the sale of its phosphates and niobium businesses in Brazil.

Anglo is cutting its capital expenditure significantly in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet.

The company is also suspending its dividend payments for the second half of this year and next. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the company planned to cut its dividend.

“No one likes to suspend a dividend,” Cutifani said. “We think it’s the right thing to do to make sure the company remains in good shape.” RBC estimates the dividend suspension will save Anglo about $1.7 billion through 2016. – Wall Street Journal