Mongolian copper and gold miner Oyu Tolgoi, which is controlled by Rio Tinto, has entered into agreements with three Chinese contractors to submit bids for the engineering, design and construction of a power station at the mine site.
The company has refreshed previous plans to develop its own power plant at Oyu Tolgoi, after the Mongolian government earlier this year ended a deal that has allowed the company to source power.
The agreement entered into with each bidder provides that, where a bidder submits a conforming bid and it is not accepted by Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi will pay $500 000 to that bidder to offset the costs of preparing that bid and the early engineering and design work packs.
The contractors are State-owned enterprises - China Machinery Engineering, Harbin Electric International Company and Power Construction Corporation of China.
Rio Tinto made the disclosure to meet UK listing rules.