It was set up by the South African Anglo American Corporation in 1987 to hold its non-African, non-diamond mining operations.
Although Minorco was quoted on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange the majority of its shares were controlled by the Oppenheimer family directly and indirectly via Anglo American Corporation and its then sister company De Beers.
In 1954 the company moved its headquarter to Zambia and ten years later it changed its name to Zambian Anglo American Limited.
[6] In 1989 Minorco agreed to sell its minority stake in Consolidated Gold Fields to Hanson, which had made an alternative all-cash takeover offer for ConsGold worth £ 3.5 billion.
In 1998 the Anglo American Corporation unveiled a merger with Minorco to create one of the world's biggest mining and natural resources companies with a stock market value of then $10 billion.