Particularly on the pillars of BHP - copper, iron ore, coal and petroleum.
Not sure where gold would fit in unless they intend to divest out of coal or petroleum and become full minerals play.
BHPs SolGold investment has me scratching my head though, not really a strategic fit either.
On the history, Newcrest was actually Newmont's Australia operations. Used to be named Newmont Australia Limited and listed on the ASX, they mopped up BHPs gold assets (plus other acquisitions) in the early 90s and changed names to Newcrest. I would have guessed than anyone owning BHP probably received NCM shares as part of the deal for the gold assets.
EDIT - oops sorry, I see this is all in the link posted.
