Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, may consider selling its Australian and Colombian nickel assets next year for between $3 billion and $7 billion, the Age newspaper reported, without citing anyone.

Chinese buyers may be best placed to buy the assets should they be offered for sale, the Age reported. Melbourne-based BHP’s nickel assets include the Mt. Keith and Leinster mines, the Kambalda nickel concentrator and the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter in Australia and the Cerro Matoso project in Colombia.

BHP this year sold its Yabulu nickel refinery for an undisclosed sum and its Ravensthorpe mine in Australia to Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd. for $340 million. The company reported total $4.2 billion one-time losses on the sales in August.

BHP has an internal view that the nickel price may be capped at $12 a pound because of the emergence of Chinese nickel pig-iron production in 2007 and 2008, the Age said. Spokeswoman Kelly Quirke declined to comment, pointing to statements made by Chief Executive Officer Marius Kloppers in August.

“These developments have changed the dynamics of the nickel market a little, and probably mean that prices will be capped more on the upside,” Kloppers said in a transcript of a conference call. “I do not think that that changes our commitment to the product at all. We believe that the portfolio has been reconfigured as one that we are committed to. We want to grow in due course.”

BHP gained 0.9 percent to A$40.95 in Sydney yesterday on the Australian stock exchange. Its London traded shares rose 1.4 percent to 19.09 pounds yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Melbourne at jriseborough@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 21, 2009 17:28 EST