Rio Tinto has signalled an end to the era of record returns in the mining sector, as the Anglo-Australian group reported a sharp drop in half-year profit and more than halved its dividend payment. Rio, the world’s largest producer of steelmaking ingredient iron ore, reported underlying earnings of $8.6bn for the six months to June, down from a record $12.2bn last year, on sales of almost $30bn. While that is still the second-highest half-year payout on record and in line with its dividend policy, the dividend is significantly lower than last year’s payment of $9.1bn and below what analysts had expected.