Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was founded in 1887 and incorporated in
London to fund the newly discovered gold reefs in the
Transvaal. By 1900 it had already started to diversify outside
South Africa. After the 1970s it transformed itself into natural resource group concentrating on a relatively small number of minerals. It was then the subject of an acrimonious, hostile and unsuccessful take-over bid by
Minorco early in 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
African National Congress 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. ==Demise of the business==