Anglo American's announcement on Tuesday that it was scrapping its dividend could be the thin end of the wedge for investors, analysts said.
The platinum miner shocked the market by suspending its pay-outs for the second half of this year and for 2016 - the first time in six years that it has done so.
Anglo (LON:AAL) is the latest of the mining majors to axe dividends following Glencore's (LON:GLEN) decision in September to suspend its 2015 final dividend, which it said would save it about US$1.6bn.
Analysts raised the prospect of more cuts and sweeping cost reductions as industry players try to stave off the impact of plunging commodity prices.
Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said: "The question is whether we are set to see a rush of others doing the same to protect balance sheets."
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) could be next if iron ore heads inexorably towards $30 a tonne, after breaking below $40 earlier this week.
"At these sorts of levels these two mining giants will feel the squeeze even more as they look at a potential reduction in revenues for 2015 of around 25%," he said.
Anglo made its dividend announcement as part of a range of cost-cutting measures to streamline its business, including 85,000 job cuts.
The group is merging six businesses into three, including De Beers diamonds, industrial metals and bulk commodities, and combining its London office with that of De Beers in 2017.
Other measures include the closure of its Thabazimbi iron mine in South Africa and the Snap Lake diamond mine in Canada.
The reduction in volume is expected to save the company around US$3.7bn per year.
Also on Tuesday, Rio said its aluminium business will have slashed costs in 2015 by about US$300mln, cut capital spending by US$45mln and reduced working capital by about $400mln versus 2014.
Under pressure
Shares in miners fell, but analysts questioned whether some were in a better position to combat the price pressure compared to others.
Van Dulken said: "Might they make the most of the fact that those in the weakest of positions have moved first, paving the way for them to follow suit in a sector theme of permissible protectionism?".
Capital Economics said tumbling iron ore prices could threaten the big four miners' most costly pits, sparking further closures and asset sales.
Iron ore hit a 10-year low following Monday's seven-year low for oil as December’s commodity rout continued.
The economic research house said: "If prices remain weak, output from the highest-cost mines of the big four will be under pressure."
Decisive action
Broker Investec said higher cost miners such as Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) and Vale would face greater pressure to respond in the near term.
But it added that BHP and Rio would still be able to make margins of about 40% with iron ore at US$39 a tonne.
They were "margins that most companies in most industries would be happy to take," it said.
Investec added, however, that the traditional response of miners to a price fall - raising production levels to cut unit costs - would not work in the current environment.
"The iron ore price will remain weak until the iron ore industry takes decisive action in the face of a fundamental, and irreversible, change in demand," it said.
Anglo American fell 34.85p to 334.15p, Rio dropped 128.5p to 1937.5p, BHP reversed 45.8p to 719.4p and Glencore shed 8.36p to 77p.
Oil stocks were also off after Middle East oil cartel Opec failed to reach a decision to cut output at a meeting last Friday. The falls dragged the FTSE 100 Index 69 points lower.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Both oil and mining sectors are in dire straits at the moment, so the fact that the UK index isn’t approaching a three-digit decline is fairly remarkable."