Rio Tinto cautiously optimistic

Annual earnings from its biggest division, iron ore, dropped 31 percent to $4.1 billion, hit by a drop in contract prices settled last year after demand slumped, but volumes were strong.

Aluminium profits returned to the black in the second half, with earnings of $111 million, but were in the red for the year. Copper profits rose 17 percent, skewed to the second half.

(Additional reporting by James Regan and Mark Bendeich in Sydney; Eric Onstad in London, Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Sharon Lindores)