Shares in Eurasian Natural Resources were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the miner reported a rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of 2010.

The group said that its revenue had almost doubled from $1.7 billion in the first half of last year to $3.0 billion this year. Pre-tax profit was reported as rising from $751 million to $1.2 billion.

Eurasian said that it had a strong financial performance thanks to a recovery in its traditional markets and the continuing strength of the Chinese economy.

In addition the group said it would be raising its dividend from 6.0 cents per share to 12.5 pence per share.

During the half year period Eurasian acquired a copper and cobalt producer in Zambia, a stake in platinum producer Northam Platinum in South Africa and SMKK, which holds licences to mine copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Felix Vulis, Chief Executive Officer of Eurasian Natural Resources, said, "We have delivered a strong operating and financial performance in the first half of the year, driven by a recovery in our traditional markets and the continued strength of the Chinese economy. We have progressed with our commodity led strategy of organic growth and acquisition diversification, with the development and integration of our copper and cobalt assets in Africa. These assets are helping us to create value on the continent. We remain positive about the longer term prospects for ENRC, but there is a risk of commodity market volatility in the near term and the management of costs remains a challenge."

By 10:05 shares in Eurasian Natural Resources were down 2.74 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 941.50 pence per share.

FTSE South Africa