The De Beers Group is a South African- British corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond inscription and grading services, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial and coastal mining. It operates in 35 countries with mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. It also has an artisanal mining business, Gemfair, which operates in Sierra Leone.
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town.
Oppenheimer is a toponymic surname, derived from the German town Oppenheim, common among Germans and Ashkenazi Jews. Most uses refer to J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the American physicist who headed the Manhattan Project. Other notable people with the surname include:
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.
Alfred Beit was an Anglo-German gold and diamond magnate in South Africa, and a major donor and profiteer of infrastructure development on the African continent. He also donated much money to university education and research in several countries, and was the "silent partner" who structured the capital flight from post-Boer War South Africa to Rhodesia. Beit's assets were structured around the so-called Corner House Group, which through its holdings in various companies controlled 37 per cent of the gold produced at the Witwatersrand's goldfields in Johannesburg in 1913.
Barney Barnato was a British Randlord and diamond magnate who was one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later, gold mining in South Africa from the 1870s up to World War I. He was known as a rival of Cecil Rhodes.
Nicholas F. Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire businessman. He was formerly the chairman of De Beers diamond mining company and of its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company, and former deputy chairman of Anglo American. He is the third richest man in Africa.
Anglo American plc is a British multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, polyhalite and steelmaking coal. The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the first suburb north of the inner city. It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parktown North, Parkhurst and Forest Town. Parktown is one of Johannesburg's largest suburbs, neighbouring Hillbrow, Braamfontein and Milpark to the South; Berea and Houghton to the East; Killarney and Forest Town to the North, and Westcliff, Melville and Richmond to the West. Originally established by the Randlords in the 1890s, Parktown is now home to many businesses, hospitals, schools, churches and restaurants, whilst still maintaining quiet residential areas. It is also home to three of the five campuses of the University of the Witwatersrand including the education campus, medical school and Wits Business School. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
Dan Jacobson was a South African novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
Randlords were the capitalists who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa from the 1870s up to World War I.
Julian Ogilvie Thompson was a South African businessman who was chairman of De Beers and the Anglo American mining company.
Gustav Imroth was a minor Randlord who played a role in the development of the South African diamond-mining industry and sports.
The Brenthurst Library is a private repository of Africana in Parktown, Johannesburg built by Harry Oppenheimer in 1984 as he started to disengage from the family's mining interests. It houses a collection of some 20,000 volumes, including rare manuscripts and documents. Among these were the only complete record of the proceedings of the treason trial of Nelson Mandela, until the papers were handed over to the Mandela estate in November 2008.
Brenthurst Gardens is a 45-acre (180,000 m2) private garden in Johannesburg, South Africa attached to Brenthurst Estate, the residence of the Oppenheimer family, led by Nicky Oppenheimer.
Jack Penn, M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.(E.), Mil. Dec. M.B.E., S.M., was a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, sculptor and author, who was also for a time a member of the President's Council in South Africa.
The Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award is awarded annually by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. It is considered the top award for research on the African continent.
Jonathan M. E. Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire businessman and conservationist, and the executive chairman of Oppenheimer Generations, a former executive of De Beers and a former vice-president of his family's firm, Anglo American plc.
Reunert Sidney Bauser (1928-2017) was a South African involved in all the aspects of the provincial rugby team, Griquas, and a Grand Master of The Freemasons in South Africa.
Henry Charles Hull was the first South African Minister of Finance when the Union of South Africa was formed in March 1910. He served in the first Louis Botha cabinet. He assisted in drafting of South Africa's first constitution. He was a lawyer, politician, and mining financier. He assisted in the formation of Anglo American plc.
