Miners bidding for Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi, which could become one of the world's largest coal mines, have to submit a proposal for upfront payment to win the deal, the South China Morning Post reported on Dec 28.
Miners including China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, Peabody Energy Corp, Japan's Mitsui Anglo-America, Brazil's Vale SA and Rio Tinto Plc have expressed interest in the project.
Ch.Baatbayer, a senior official at Erdenes MGL, the government entity that owns Tavan Tolgoi's estimated 5.1 billion tonnes of coal deposits, confirmed that the upfront payment was a factor in winning bidding, the report said.
Bids for the contract are due on Jan. 17, 2011.
