Gold In France

[mn90403]

This is an interesting story about a gold deposit in France.  I wonder when he actually saw it in his stream?

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/society-culture-and-history/history/by-chance-he-discovers-a-gold-deposit-in-auvergne-valued-at-4-billion-euros-but-the-french-government-blocks-its-exploitation/ar-AA1DglGC 

[Clay Diggins]

I am curious how a few nuggets found in a stream could lead anyone to know there were another 150 tons of gold in the deposit without any testing?

Placer deposits are notoriously difficult to quantify with any accuracy. We finished up permitting a very large placer project in 2023 but it took more than 30 years of very expensive testing before I got involved to establish the size of the deposit with any certainty.

Sounds like a good story but pretty much fiction. I'm glad the farmer found some gold underneath his land but the rest of the story smells like pure journalistic fantasy.

[geof_junk]

I think he found it on the first of April. 😀

[Redz]

Even in Coloma they were actively looking for gold to see it in the mill race.

[mn90403]

A bit more info ...

https://en.as.com/latest_news/accidentally-stumbles-upon-a-gold-deposit-worth-4-billion-but-the-joy-is-short-lived-n/ 

[Ridge Runner]

On 4/20/2025 at 10:44 PM, Clay Diggins said:

I am curious how a few nuggets found in a stream could lead anyone to know there were another 150 tons of gold in the deposit without any testing?

Placer deposits are notoriously difficult to quantify with any accuracy. We finished up permitting a very large placer project in 2023 but it took more than 30 years of very expensive testing before I got involved to establish the size of the deposit with any certainty.

Sounds like a good story but pretty much fiction. I'm glad the farmer found some gold underneath his land but the rest of the story smells like pure journalistic fantasy.

Clay

  That’s what you call a WAG. That’s a Wild Ass Guess and I’m sure with the price of gold now some sellers of a claim is doing just that.

 Chuck 

[mn90403]

Chuck,

It seems lately the more big gold discoveries that are announced the higher the price of gold still goes!

Don't most commodity prices go down when you have a bumper crop or you discover millions of more ounces of a metal?

I think your WAG works in this case but it also works for all the mining companies right now about profits because costs are now divorced from profits which are going up with the price of gold.

[mn90403]

 

The French Government is in control.

 

https://a2news.com/english/argetim/lifestyle/gjen-thesarin-miliona-euro-ne-kopsht-por-shteti-ia-merr-i1146779 

[Clay Diggins]

The article is misleading Mitchel. In France the minerals belong to the land owner to a depth of 100 feet. The landowner owns the minerals but the French state is the only entity that can explore, mine and market those minerals. You can't dig for your minerals on your own land in France.

Whether this deposit actually has gold or how much gold is in the deposit will never be known under current French mining law and practice. IF the deposit is ever explored (unlikely) the farmer will lose access to his farm surface for the good of the French Republic. Sounds like a lose/lose situation for the farmer.