CORRECTED - UPDATE 2-Teck to sell assets, cut spending to pay down debt

(Corrects paragraph 7 to show company will save C$486 million by suspending dividend, rather than C$486 billion)

* Teck to cut spending, sell assets to pay down debt

* Measures to save Teck about C$1.3 billion

* Teck shares plunge 25.7 percent

(Adds details; changes dateline from OTTAWA; In U.S. dollars, unless noted)

TORONTO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Teck Cominco (TCKb.TO) said on Thursday that it would slash spending, sell assets, withdraw from the Petaquilla copper project in Panama and suspend dividend payments under a sweeping plan to cut debt from its acquisition of Fording Canadian Coal Trust.

Combined with a previously announced C$1.1 billion tax break, the measures total C$2.4 billion ($1.9 billion) and are aimed mainly at helping Teck pay down and refinance a $5.8 billion bridge loan as quickly as possible. Teck also took on $4 billion in term debt in the $13 billion takeover of Fording, which closed in October.

The plan, which triggered a nearly 26 percent drop in Teck's share price, also affects fellow Canadian miners Kinross Gold (K.TO) and Inmet Mining (IMN.TO). Kinross is buying Teck's 60 percent share of the Lobo Marte gold project in Chile. Inmet takes over Teck's 26 percent stake in Petaquilla, and will not be able to depend on Teck to help fund the project. Shares of both companies dropped.

"Current global economic and financial market conditions dictate that we take all prudent steps available to us to significantly reduce spending," Teck Chief Executive Don Lindsay said in a statement.

Teck, which just over a year ago was a largely debt-free company with C$5 billion in cash, has seen its shares plunge 90 percent since June as the company has taken on the debt at the worst possible time -- as credit markets have seized up and plunging commodity prices have hurt the company's coal, copper, and zinc operations.

MORE CUTS TO COME

Teck said the measures -- which also include cutting zinc production at the Trail smelter in British Columbia by 20 percent -- were first steps. The debt-reduction drive could include further asset sales and big cuts in administrative, exploration, and research and development spending.

Teck said it will cut budgeted capital spending by C$730 million and will save C$486 million by suspending the dividend during 2009 on both its Class A and more heavily traded Class B shares. The annual payout on both those shares are 50 Canadian cents.

The company said it will sell its 60 percent stake in Lobo-Marte to Kinross for $40 million in cash and $70 million in common shares. Separately, Kinross said it would acquire the other 40 percent of the project from Anglo American (AAL.L) for $140 million in cash.

Teck, which also owns stakes in two producing gold mines and other projects, said recently it was in talks to sell its gold assets in order to pay off its debt.

It will take a noncash charge of C$26 million in the fourth quarter due to its decision to walk away from Petaquilla. Teck's enthusiasm in the project has waned since cost estimates for the project doubled to $3.5 billion in February.