Commodities giant Glencore said it will cut 500,000 tonnes of zinc production, or around 4% of global supply, in its latest move to withstand weak commodities prices.
Zinc prices, which have fallen 30% since May to five-year lows, rallied 6% on the news.
The move follows recent cuts in copper output and could signal metal prices are nearing the bottom of the cycle, analysts said.
Glencore, the world's largest miner of zinc ore, said the cuts will shutter about a third of its annual output, mostly from mines in Australia, where 535 jobs will be lost, as well as operations in South America and Kazakhstan.
The move follows an array of measures the company announced last month to help it slash its $30 billion in net debt by a third, including lower copper production, suspension of its dividends and a sale of new shares.
Glencore said at current zinc prices it was better to keep its resources in the ground.
"Glencore believes that current prices do not correctly value the scarcity of our zinc resources," it said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The cuts will reduce the company's fourth quarter production by 100,000 tonnes. It had previously expected to produce between 1.52 million tonnes and 1.57 million tonnes of zinc this year.
Mine supply of zinc was already set to shrink this year due to the closure of MMG's huge Century zinc mine in Australia, which also accounts for about 4%t of global supply, and Ireland's Lisheen, owned by India's Vedanta.
Prices of lead, which is often mined with zinc, also jumped by almost 3%.
"Glencore remains positive about the medium and long term outlook for zinc, lead and silver, however we are taking a proactive approach to manage our production in response to current prices," it said.
A Glencore spokesman in Australia declined to say how much the output cut would save in working capital or pay, nor how long it expected the cuts to last.
