A first attempt to unite the coalowners of the Loire region to defend their common interests was made in 1822, but did not last.

[1] The Comité des Houillères Françaises was organized from 1855 to 1869 by Amédée Burat (1809–83), a professor at the École Centrale Paris and consulting engineer to the Blanzy and Le Creusot mines.

[1] During the French Third Republic a period of prosperity for the coal mines ended after 1880 and the need for an industry organization reappeared.

[5] The CCHF canvassed its members for subjects of interest, and circulated printed reports on laws and regulations, technical innovations, legal judgements in cases involving mining and so on.

[6] It emerged that the CCHF and the Comite de Forges were managers of Le Temps, the most authoritative newspaper of the Third Republic.

[9] After the 1940 defeat of France in World War II, the Vichy government targeted the CCHF, Comité de Forges and Confédération générale du patronat français (CGPF), three organizations closely identified with the grand patronat of France.

He became chairman of the board of the Compagnie des Forges de Châtillon-Commentry et Neuves-Maisons in 1870, holding this office until his death.

[4] In 1907 Henri de Peyerimhoff (1871–1953) was appointed Secretary General of the CCHF in place of Édouard Gruner, who now concentrated on technical subjects.

In 1928 he wrote favorably about collective agreements in an article on Le Program Patronal in the Revue des Vivants.