Rio Tinto, the world’s No 3 miner by market value, produced an astonishing USD 13.7bn in free cash flow for 2010, nearly USD 10bn more than the USD 3.8bn seen in 2009. Free cash flow (operating cash flow less capital expenditure) was assisted mainly by prices: the group’s revenue line rose to USD 60.3bn from USD 44bn. Underlying profits more than doubled to USD 14bn, with nearly three quarters of that attributable to the iron ore division. Copper contributed 18%. The broad aluminium division returned to profits, contributing 5%.
See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page39?oid=120323&sn=Detail&pid=92730.