Boigues et fils built a foundry at Fourchambault, Nièvre in 1821–22, the first in France to use the modern English technique of making iron using coal (coke) rather than charcoal.

In 1819 the leases on the Grossouvre site and its facilities were assigned to Boigues et Fils, Paris iron merchants, and Labbé.

[2] By 1824 the Boiges's had eliminated Paillot and Labbé and made an agreement that divided ownership 1/8 to the Maison de Paris, which handed the accounts of all the factories of Boigues et fils in Fouchambault, with the remaining 7/8 divided 3/4 to Louis Boigues in Paris and 1/4 to Meillard-Bouges, his brother, who worked as an administrator in Fourchambault.

[5] At the 1827 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in Paris Boigues et fils were given an honorable mention for their cast iron.

[11] They bought ten blast furnaces in the region around Fourchambault and existing ironworks that included a sheet metal plant at Imphy and a nail factory at Cosne.

[13] In 1836 the brothers Adolphe and Eugène Schneider acquired the iron works at Le Creusot with investments by François Alexandre Seillière and Louis Boigues.

[15][b] In 1838 Boigues et fils engaged with the Société Rambourg Frères, owner of a coal mine in Commentry, Allier.

[9] An 1839 description of the works at Fourchambault said the raw iron to be refined was supplied by 18 blast furnaces, five of which were operated by the Boigues company in Nièvre and five in Cher.

A suspension bridge was being built across the Loire to connect Fourchambault in Nièvre to Givry in Cher, due to be completed in 1835.

[17] After his death the Fourchambault enterprise was reorganized as a societé en commandite, a limited partnership controlled by the heirs of Boigues and Dufaud.

The Société Boigues & Cie soon began a major expansion to meet growing demand from railways.

[20] In the crisis year of 1848 Charles de Wendel and Eugène Schneider saved the foundry at Fourchambault from bankruptcy by co-signing a huge bank loan.