Resilient Rio Tinto 1H profit edges higher

Big investment: An employee works on sample trays of jadarite, containing lithium and borate, at the Rio Tinto Group research centre in Loznica, Serbia. The company says it will allocate US$10bil annually over three years from 2024 to capital investment. — Bloomberg

SYDNEY: Rio Tinto Group’s first-half profit increased from the previous year – although it narrowly missed estimates – as the world’s biggest iron ore miner proved resilient to China’s economic slowdown.

An ongoing property crisis and disappointing post-pandemic recovery in China, the biggest metals-consuming nation, has put downward pressure on demand for most industrial commodities.