Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore, has opted to continue increasing dividends in a bid to keep investors sweet after it rebuffed a takeover approach earlier this year from commodities trading house Glencore.

The London- and Sydney-listed mining group, which, together with Brazilian company Vale and BHP Billiton, dominates global production of iron ore, also said it would defer a decision on investing in Western Australia's Silvergrass mine until "the third quarter of 2015 at the earliest".

"Looking out over the next five years, we expect to generate strong free cash flow and we remain committed to materially increase cash returns to shareholders in a sustainable way," said Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014