In this article we will shed a light on France’s gold mining history, as well as the current activities in the industry today. Making money through gold mining has always been a challenge. Men have been searching for the yellow metal for over 2000 years now.
From the ancient mines to the modern operations, let’s take a look that the current state of gold mining in France.
Ancient French Gold Mines
France has a long history of gold mining. Early records reveal that gold mining in France commenced all the way from 100 to 200 BC in the southern part of Limousin area.
The Romans were the first to mine gold from the Massif Central in southern France, although their main focus and effort were centered on the extraction of iron from its ores. As a result, they ended up leaving a lot of gold behind.
With the steady passage of time, as further mining was conducted on the Massif Central, new deposits of gold were discovered in 1892 and from that year gold mining has been an ongoing venture. And because of that many more mines and mining areas were established in these mountains.
Some records reveal that when gold mining had commenced France recorded most of its productivity years around 1908, a period when the mines could extract up to 100 kilograms of gold in a single year.
France’s gold mining eventually started to expand especially in the southern region, even though a number of mines are known have been abandoned later on. But there was great increase in a number of mining sites established for gold mining. There is still considerable gold in this region.
Modern Gold Mining in France
The places that the ancient miners recovered gold are still drawing interest today. This is even true for large mining companies.
Other well-known places for quality gold production in France include an open-pit mine in south west region, which is also situated closer to the top most part of the nearby mountain at Massif Central.
Production of gold increased dramatically in 1982 with improved methods of extraction. As a result, the productivity levels in the Bourneix area increased when one of the prominent players in gold mining known as Cogema Group got hold of a French based company to run and manage the gold mining operations in the 1988.
When Cogema Group started running the gold mining operations of a French company in 1988 gold production went all the way from 500 kilograms to over two metric tons of gold every year. However, the unstable gold prices on the market in the early 1990s forced the mine to cease operating in 2002 due to high costs involved in production.
Read: Can You Actually Make Money Mining for Gold?
Renewed Interest in Gold Throughout France
From those days up to today, gold mining in France is known to have evolved over the years, especially with the methods used in the mining industry as well as an increase in the number of players involved in gold mining. For this reason, France accommodates gold production on both large and small-scale levels.
There are some rivers and streams today that are known to have potential for gold production. Some rivers can produce minimal amounts of placer gold deposits, which prospectors can recover gold just for fun.
Finding gold isn’t too hard if you use the proper techniques. There are many creeks and rivers throughout the country where you can pan for gold and recover the yellow metal.
Where to Go
Among the notable potential producers of gold are any waterways that are known to flow into southern France all the way from Switzerland. Meanwhile, there are several locations with rivers that can have gold extracted from using placer mining. Such places include the rivers around southern Brittany in the vicinity of Northern Loire as well as Loperec River, which is known to bear gold.
Other places that are known to produce gold, especially through panning and sluicing are several creeks in Bretagne, because most of the gold found in such places are fine deposits.
In Summary
France holds a great reputation where gold mining is concerned. And looking at the time the activity of gold mining commenced, to where it is now there is no doubt it still holds potential.
Obviously, there is still more gold to be extracted especially in the Massif Central mountain range where much of France’s gold has been mined from. With the availability of advanced methods of extraction today it is possible that more work can be done.
Next: The Ancient Roman Gold Mines in Spain
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