POLL: What Mining Stock Will BHP Buy?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BHP Billiton(BHP Quote), Aussie mining giant, has assembled a formidable war chest -- $18 billion in cash -- some of which it plans to use for acquisitions -- and perhaps even a buyout of massive proportions.

(This notwithstanding BHP's infamous attempt to capture its rival, Rio Tinto(RTP Quote), in a nearly $70 billion deal that was scuttled in 2007 once the world's financial system began to unravel.)

According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, BHP's brass has set its sights on "four or five opportunities" (quote courtesy of a BHP higher-up) in the mining and/or oil-and-gas sectors, though a mining company or asset remains the most probable acquisition. BHP said it expects to pursue one of these "opportunities" within the next 12 months.

This tidbit has sent the financial press and blogosphere into handicapping mode. Potential targets have been bandied about from the huge to the huger.

They include Freeport McMoRan(FCX Quote), the world's largest copper extractor; Potash(POT Quote), the world's largest producer of potash (a substance that is mined); and even Vale(VALE Quote), the Brazilian ore behemoth partly owned by the Brazilian government -- though that last fact makes such a target unlikely. Other potential targets include platinum miner Anglo American and British coal produce Xstrata.

With all this in mind, which company do you see as the most likely BHP target? Please feel free to make a comment explaining your pick -- or to write in an alternate candidate.

With BHP on the hunt for acquisitions, which company makes for the most likely target?
	Freeport McMoRan Potash Vale Anglo American Xstrata

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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