BHP chief executive Mike Henry says commodity producers will capitalise on a looming decade of inflation in the global economy as the world’s biggest miner showered investors with a third consecutive record interim dividend worth $US7.6 billion ($10.6 billion).

Continuation of the mining industry’s golden era of shareholder returns was made possible by extremely high prices for coking coal, copper and iron ore, with BHP beating analyst expectations with an underlying half-year profit of $US9.71 billion.