By Rhiannon Hoyle

SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) said it would pay a special dividend and raise its midyear payout, even as its first-half net profit was cut by a write down of the value of a major copper investment in Mongolia.

Rio Tinto, the world's second-biggest mining company by market value, said on Thursday it would pay a special dividend worth US$1.0 billion and raise its interim dividend to US$1.51 a share, up from US$1.27 a share a year ago.

That was underpinned by a 12% lift in underlying earnings to US$4.93 billion, missing a US$5.16 billion median forecast of seven analysts' forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal. Rio Tinto ships more iron ore from Australia than any other company, and has benefited from prices of the industrial commodity surging to more than five-year highs in the six-month period.

Still, the miner's net profit fell by 6% to US$4.13 billion after management wrote down its investment in the Oyu Tolgoi copper deposit in Mongolia by US$800 million. Rio Tinto said last month it will take longer and cost more to finish building an underground mine at Oyu Tolgoi, after early engineering work pointed to a heightened risk of rock falls.

-Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 01, 2019 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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