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