Rio Tinto in $157m first shout for Simandou

Rio transferred the $US100 million to the rival "Winning" consortium that will mine iron ore from two tenements in the Simandou mountains that are adjacent to where the Rio's "Simfer" consortium will mine. Rio transferred the money to the rival consortium because Winning will initially own the company that will build the railway and port infrastructure. Rio's Simfer consortium is expected to acquire a 34 per cent stake in the Winning companies building the transport infrastructure and eventually fund 50 per cent of the costs. But those transactions will not occur until a feasibility study and final funding agreement is…