BHP Billiton To Sell Yabulu Nickel Refinery
July 02 2009 - 7:57PM
Dow Jones News
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) Friday said it agreed to sell its Yabulu
nickel refinery in Queensland to companies owned by Australian
mining magnate Clive Palmer.
The sale follows a review of the operation, and the terms of the
sale are confidential, BHP said in a statement.
Market speculation previously focused on a sale to Palmer's
Gladstone Pacific Nickel Ltd. (GPN.LN), or that BHP may opt for a
packaged sale of Yabulu and its failed US$2.1 billion Ravensthorpe
mine in Western Australia.
BHP will write down the carrying value of Yabulu by around
US$500 billion and a further US$175 million of unrecoverable tax
benefits. Those writedowns will be reported in BHP's results for
the year ending June 30.
-By Elisabeth Behrmann, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-2-8272-4689 elisabeth.behrmann@dowjones.com