French farmer discovers gold mine worth 4 billion euros in his garden, but the state confiscates it from him

Have you ever found money on the street? Well, this story is going to fascinate you then. It’s not money, but it’s something better. A man in France realized that his land held not just a treasure, but a gold mine (literally). He went out for his daily walk along the stream on his property, and suddenly something sparkled in the damp soil. He bent down, brushed it with his hand, and there it was: gold. Pure, shiny gold.

But what seemed like the discovery of a lifetime turned into a bitter story just days later. Because in France, what’s under the ground… isn’t yours. It belongs to the State.

A million-dollar discovery but…

This is what happened to Michel Dupont, a 52-year-old farmer living in Auvergne. On an ordinary morning he discovered a gold deposit on his land. What he didn’t expect is that, after word got out that he had found gold, several government officials found out too.

The land is his, he’s been farming it for years, but the gold (valued at over 4 billion dollars) does not belong to him.

That’s what the French Mining Code states: the subsoil is not the property of the landowner, but is under the control of the State. So goodbye to any possibility of exploiting it, selling it, or even dreaming of a piece of the pie.

What if he had kept quiet?

Michel did the right thing. He reported it. He told his neighbors, word spread… and soon officials were on his property blocking any attempt at private intervention… Since then, he can only watch from the fence as they take samples from his deposit.

First the environmental assessment, then the gold As if that weren’t enough, his land is located in a zone considered to have high ecological value. Before they can touch a single stone, the Government must carry out environmental impact studies to make sure the ecosystem isn’t destroyed during extraction, as stated in the National Heritage Protection Regulation.

Environmentalists vs. local development The discovery has set social media on fire and even divided the neighbors. Some fear the rural peace of the area will be disrupted if it becomes an extraction hotspot, and others think that if the gold is going to be extracted, at least let it be used to increase the region’s wealth.

What if this had happened in another country?

The story would be very different, because in the United States, subsoil rights do belong to the landowner (unless they’ve been sold separately), so if instead of being born in Auvergne, he had been born in Texas, he could legally be exploiting his gold, or at least negotiating with a mining company to take a share of whatever is earned from his deposit.

And the truth is, when things like this happen, the only thing that comes to mind is wondering how far private property rights go in many places. Is it logical, or at least fair, to find a gold mine on your own land and not have the option to negotiate? It would be a very different story if this man hadn’t spoken up about his discovery.