Record profits and giant tax payments from the Anglo American group this week are a taste of things to come as the mining sector’s reporting season opens, with the commodities boom expected to last for the rest of the year at least.

Shareholders have been richly rewarded as the Anglo companies paid out a high proportion of their profits in dividends. The fiscus has also reaped rich pickings, which will have helped to ensure government revenue for the current fiscal year comes in well over February's budget estimates...