Rio Tinto in bumper $4bn special dividend

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto rewarded shareholders on Wednesday with a bumper special dividend worth a total $4bn as part of $7bn payout.

Overall underlying earnings rose 2% to $8.8bn as higher contributions from copper and diamonds offset lower earnings in other divisions.

Rio also finally unveiled a copper find at Winu in the Paterson Range in the East Pilbara.

“What is clear is there’s a lot of copper, a lot of gold, a lot of silver,” said chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques. "It is early days and we have more work to do, but the initial result from drilling are pretty encouraging,"

Rio said the special dividend would be funded with the proceeds from the sale of its Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia and the Dunkerque aluminium smelter in France.

Net profit rose to $13.64bn from $8.76 billion a year ago.

Rio declared a final dividend of $1.80 a share, for a total of $3.07 a share compared with 2017's payout of $2.90 a share.

It also moved to a positive net cash position of $255m from debt of $3.85bn.

"Our world-class portfolio and strong balance sheet will serve us well in all market conditions, and underpin our ability to continue to invest in our business and deliver superior returns to shareholders in the short, medium and long term," Jacques said.