BUZZ-Glencore: plans to sell copper mines in Australia, Chile

** Metals trader and miner Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) up more than 3 pct & top gainer on slightly-negative FTSE 100 index

** Co says plans to sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile after receiving interest from potential buyers

** Cobar produces about 50,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate per annum, while the Lomas Bayas mine's annual output is about 75,000 tonnes of copper cathode

** Move to cut production in face of lower prices contrasts with rival Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) ; the low-cost miner has said it has no plans in cutting copper output next year

** GLEN looking to sell assets to raise money to cut its $30 bln in net debt by about a third

** Has earlier also pledged to cut capex, suspend dividend payments and raise $2.5 bln of new equity capital

** Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in co down about 57 pct YTD in tandem with weak global commodity prices & hit by concerns around co's huge debt (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : esha.vaish.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)