Jean-Paul Turcaud ( 1940–2020) was a French

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

pioneer, and one of many claimants to the discovery of the Telfer Mine in

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, for a time Australia's largest gold mine. The discovery of this prospect was attributed by

Newmont Mining Newmont Corporation is a gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it owns gold mines in Nevada, Colorado, Ontario, Quebec, Mexico, the Domin ...

to David Tyrwhitt in 1972.The Golden Riddle: Finder's Keepers?

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, produced by Bronwyn Adcock, broadcast: 6 June 1999, accessed: 27 January 2010

Early life

Jean-Paul Turcaud arrived in Australia as a young immigrant from France in the late 1960s. He had served in the

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as a

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Turcaud's claim

There are many prospectors who claim to have discovered the mine. However, in this case, the officially recognised claimants do not deny that Jean-Paul Turcaud, after having spent a considerable amount of time searching Australia's

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data

, was the first prospector to find the mineral deposit that eventually became the Telfer Mine. Turcaud claims he found the Telfer deposit two years before Newmont did and fought Newmont in legal battles throughout the 1970s without an outcome. Eventually, Turcaud left Australia, exhausted from the emotional and financial strain, while the Telfer Mine was opened by Newmont in 1977. In the early 1980s, Turcaud reached a settlement, accepting $25,000 from Newmont's head office in

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but continued his claim, demanding a Royal Commission into the matter.

Counter claim

The counter claim by Newmont Mining, the project was later spun off into

Newcrest Mining Newcrest Mining Limited is an Australian-based corporation which engages in the exploration, development, mining and sale of gold and gold-copper concentrate. It is Australia's leading gold mining company and its operations have expanded beyon ...

, was that discovery of a mineral deposit does not, in and of itself, constitute recognition of that discovery. They argue that discovery of a prospect usually goes to those who physically peg the area and correctly identify the mineable minerals in the deposit. Jean-Paul Turcaud, for various reasons and in contradiction to the Mining Act, failed to do either of these. Whilst there is little argument that Turcaud was prospecting in the area and that he did find and identify mineralised gossans, he failed to identify the project as being prospective for gold. On several occasions he attempted to interest local mining companies, like WMC Resources and Anglo American, in the tenements based on its

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

(primarily copper) potential. David Tyrwhitt, the recognised discoverer of Telfer, stated in an interview that while he did not think Turcaud deserved any credit for his claimed discovery, he did admire the man's pioneering spirit, going out into the desert alone. Tyrwhitt eventually rose to the position of a director of Newmont.

Later life

Turcaud continued to sign posts to newspapers in regards to

Global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

as the ''Discoverer of the Telfer and Nifty Mine''. Turcaud operated an Internet website called, in reference to Telfer, ''The Greatest Australian Mining Covered up Swindle of the 20th Century.'' He died at home at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

in south-western France on 20 August 2020.

References

External links

Australia's Largest Gold Mine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turcaud, Jean-Paul 1940 births 2020 deaths Prospectors Australian gold prospectors French businesspeople