Jules Garnier
Jacque Jules Garnier (25 November 1839 in Saint-Étienne – 8 March 1904 in Gorbio) was a French engineer and industrialist. Biography Garnier studied at the Saint-Étienne School of Mines (1860). Upon leaving the School of Mines of Saint-Étienne , he worked for two years at the Steelworks of the Navy and the Railways, then carried out a geological study in Sardinia in 1862. He was sent to Nouméa as head of the mines department of New Caledonia in 1863. Until 1866 he traveled the island and discovered a new green nickel ore, having a large weight percent of nickel oxide, which was named garnierite in his honor by his peers. This discovery was formalized at the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1876. He also undertook missions in Canada . He received the Legion of Honor at the age of 28. In 1876, Jules Garnier filed a patent for the industrial exploitation of New Caledonian nickel and participated in the creation of a company (the future Société Le Nickel - SLN), by having the first nickel plant at Pointe-Chaleix in Nouméa. That same year, he filed a patent in February describing the principles and uses of ferronickel. In the meantime, as