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Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Hanson plc in 1988. ==History== The Company was founded in 1887 and incorporated in London to fund the newly discovered gold reefs in the Transvaal.〔(Monopolies & Mergers Commission Report into potential acquisition of Consolidated Gold Fields by Minorco )〕 By 1900 it had already started to diversify outside South Africa.〔 After 1945 it acquired mines in the United States and Australia.〔 Until the 1970s, it was predominantly a mining finance house receiving income from passive investments. In 1970 A.R.O. Williams O.B.E, who was then Managing Director, retired. After the 1970s it transformed itself into natural resource group concentrating on a relatively small number of minerals.〔 The company had three major wholly owned subsidiaries: ARC Ltd, Gold fields Corporation and ARC America, both in the United States.〔 By the late 1980s it was considering withdrawing from South Africa completely.〔(Gold Miner Weighs South Africa Move ) New York Times, 14 September 1988〕 It was then the subject of an acrimonious, hostile and unsuccessful take-over bid by Minorco early in 1988.〔(Judge blocks Minorco's bid for Consolidated Gold Fields ) New York Times, 25 October 1988〕 Consolidated Gold Fields played a key role in ending apartheid in South Africa; Michael Young, the company's public affairs director embarked on the controversial course of initiating secret discussions between the South African government and the ANC at Mells Park House in the company's estate in Somerset. This ultimately resulted in the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and the handover of power to majority rule: the events are described in book ''The Fall of Apartheid'' by Robert Harvey and the 2009 television film "''Endgame''".〔(Briton who helped end South Africa's apartheid ) The Times, 4 May 2009〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Consolidated Gold Fields」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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