JIM JONES: Anglo's century of twists, turns and triumphs
The Oppenheimer behemoth is inextricably linked with SA history
When Anglo American celebrates the centenary of its official incorporation on September 25, it will be a completely different creature from the one punted to US financiers by founder Ernest Oppenheimer back in 1917. For although Anglo's patriarch, a Jewish German immigrant, had cut his business teeth in the diamond fields of Kimberley, he sold the concept of his new company on the prospect of mining gold on the then new East Rand goldfield. He had ambitions to control South Africa's diamond industry, but on the promise of gold he succeeded in raising initial capital of £1-million. The rest is history. Today Anglo is one the three remaining examples (Gold Fields and, indirectly, BHP are the others) of the rise, growth and decline in just over a century of South Africa's once-great mining houses. Today there are no Oppenheimers in the business that two generations, led first by Ernest and subsequently by his son Harry, developed into the world's largest mining group. The third and fou...
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