BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, today agreed to sell its loss-making Yabulu nickel refinery in Queensland to companies controlled by Australia's fifth-richest man, Professor Clive Palmer.

Professor Palmer, a property investor whose wealth has been estimated at A$5 billion (£2.4 billion), is expected to take control of Yabulu by the end of July.

The professor is chairman of Australia's Mineralogy Ltd. He accumulated the bulk of his wealth as a property investor in Brisbane, known locally as the "Gold Coast". Last year, he unveiled a plan to donate A$1 billion to charities.

The sale by BHP comes after it undertook a six month review of the future of Yabulu in January. The refinery employs 950 staff and is capable of producing 30,000 tonnes a year of nickel.

It became effectively redundant at the beginning of the year when BHP indefinitely suspended operations at its Ravensthorpe mine due to a world slump in the nickel price.

Nickel mined at Ravensthorpe would be sent to Yabulu for refining.

Terms of today's sale were not disclosed, but BHP will take a $500 million writedown on the value of the refinery and a further $175 million on unrecoverable tax benefits.

Jimmy Wilson, president of stainless steel materials at BHP, said that Prof Palmer was "deeply commited" to continuing operations at Yabulu.

Although not the biggest player in the Australian nickel mining industry, Prof Palmer operates several nickel mines and is likely to tie the Yabulu refinery into his network.

Talks with the workforce, suppliers and customers will begin immediately to ensure a smooth handover, BHP said.

Analysts said the sale was good news for BHP. Brendan Harris and David Andrews at Macquarie Bank said that they had expected Yabulu to be worth nothing in a sale.

They said that the sale meant management did not have to waste valuable time closing down the business.

"While not wishing to get too carried away, as Yabulu has and was never going to be a key driver for BHP Billiton, this announcement represents another great deal for BHP Billiton although clearly nowhere near as material as the recent iron ore joint venture," they said.

Last month, BHP Billiton signed a joint venture agreement with Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian miner, to develop an iron ore project in Pilbara, Australia.

The price of nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange today fell £100 to £16,350 a tonne, a drop of 0.61 per cent.

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