pos sp potential, page-3

Just posted. Yabulu looks like its up for sale as well.

BHP May Sell Ravensthorpe, Yabulu Together, Review Reports

By Gemma Daley

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd. may be preparing to sell its Yabulu nickel refinery project and the closed $2.2 billion Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia as a package, the Australian Financial Review said citing people it didn’t name.

BHP will complete a review of the Yabulu refinery next week, and a review of the Ravesthorpe mine is scheduled to be finished by year end, the newspaper said. It cost A$500 million to restart Ravesthorpe, which was shut in January, the Review said.

Xstrata Plc may compete with Gladstone Pacific Nickel Ltd. to buy Yabulu, the newspaper said, without citing anyone. There may be 11 companies in total interested in the asset, it said.

“We wouldn’t comment on market speculation,” Peter Ogden, a spokesman for Melbourne-based BHP, said by phone today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gemma Daley in Canberra at [email protected]

Last Updated: June 25, 2009 18:41 EDT