Jacques Nasser and John Schubert

BHP Billiton is set to elect its new chairman next week when the board of the world’s biggest miner meets to consider candidates to succeed Don Argus.

After ruling out external candidates, people close to the situation said there were two remaining BHP non-executives vying for the position – Jacques Nasser, the 61-year-old former chief executive of Ford Motor, and John Schubert, the 65-year-old chairman of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.