Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group, says its China sales may reach a possible annual growth of about 42.8 percent in 2007 year on year, said Julie Song, chief representative of the company's Beijing office,Tuesday.

The company's China sales stood at $4.062 billion in 2006, accounting for 15 percent of the Australian company's global sales. Its 2007 sales to China were forecast to top $5.8 billion, accounting for around 18 percent of its total sales.

Song said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday that the growth was mainly boosted by copper, iron ore, aluminium and its energy businesses.

The global mining giant released its 2007 annual results last week, with its underlying earnings reaching an all-time high of $7.443 billion, up one percent from 2006.

"The Chinese market is still gaining strong growth momentum, largely unaffected by Western markets," said Michael Han, Rio Tinto China chief economist. He predicted the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was likely to grow around 10 percent this year.