rio tinto in tender process

Goodmorning all,
I posed the question last night, if anyone had heard who else was in the tender process and I recieved this reply from Johnnywilson,

'Hi 77, I have heard the RIO are having a red hot crack at the tender as well. It comes from a reliable source but as always, dyor as it could be just a rumour though."

Rumour or not, two things come to mind

i) This is obviously a world class project, and more importantly

ii) How can SSC beat RIO in the tender process. If this has some truth to it then I dont see it at good news at all. In a country such as Togo, Im sure it all comes down to money and what the company can do for the people i.e Like build roads, schools etc. RIO are just too big.

I am aware that Derek has spent years over there and has made connections, but Im not sure it would be enough to beat the Goliath RIO. This could explain a lot of the selling lately too.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

77