UPDATE 2-Pan American Silver Q3 profit falls; cuts jobs, pay

(In U.S. Dollars, unless noted)

* Q3 adj shr $0.11, before items, misses estimates

* Q3 sales $79.5 million

* To cut 500 jobs

* Senior executives to take 10 pct pay cut

* Shares at new year-low (Adds details, analyst, conference call comments)

By Sakthi Prasad

BANGALORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Pan American Silver Corp (PAA.TO) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, hurt by falling silver and zinc prices, and said it will axe 500 jobs.

The silver miner also said its senior executives will take a 10 percent pay cut.

The company also became the latest miner to defer projects to preserve cash during a period of weak base metals prices. This follows top gold producer Barrick Gold Corp's (ABX.TO) consideration to defer some projects.

Pan American, which has operating mines in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, said it would axe 500 jobs and would rollback 10 percent of wages for all senior executives, due to fall in silver prices.

"I don't know what that would mean in terms of cost savings but its fairly substantial. It's a positive that they are proactively looking to cut costs, but unfortunately for the employees it's not good news," analyst Steven Butler of Canaccord Adams said by phone.

"They don't pay as much labor in South America as they would here but still it has to be reasonable savings," Butler added.

Pan American said it has deferred almost all of its greenfield exploration programs, significantly reduced its brownfield exploration and cancelled all "discretionary" capital expenditures.

"These are challenging times for the global mining industry. We have responded by retooling our business plans to reduce costs and adjust to the new pricing environment," Chief Executive Geoff Burns said in a statement.

Burns said quarterly results were hurt by decline in base metal and silver prices that started in the middle of the third quarter.