[meteorite-list] Morocco new fall news.

[McomeMeteorite Meteorite]

$6 - 10/gr. ? Moroccan people they begin to do clever, but in the same time 
they will be ruined with them their same hands

Matteo


>From: "Michael Farmer" <meteoritehunter at comcast.net>
>To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>Subject: [meteorite-list] Morocco new fall news.
>Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 10:14:51 -0700
>
>Hello everyone, I have just arrived back in Tucson after one of the most 
>difficult and dangerous trips I have ever done.
>
>I was in Morocco for the last week to investigate the new fall and a new 
>Pallasite. Everything that could have gone wrong on this trip, did, so I 
>left Morocco very quickly and returned home.
>
>I will make a very long story short but it should serve as a warning to 
>all.
>
>I got some of the new Pallasite last month in Morocco, and planned a trip 
>to go to the site of the meteorite find. It is in Western Sahara, right on 
>the Algeria/Morocco/Mauritania borders. This is the same Pallasite that 
>John Birdsell has some of.
>I was assured that it was no problem to go to the area, but when I got to 
>Assa, we changed into a very old military vehicle, this is when I should 
>have realized that something was wrong.
>When we got to Zag, we detoured off road for about 20 kilometers to avoid 
>the town and police/military checkpoints.
>The meteorite is 30 kilometers south and east of Al Mahbas Western Sahara, 
>and when we got about 20 kilometers from the area, we went off-road. That 
>is when the Moroccans told me that this was a military-only, prohibited 
>zone, and that we were not allowed there! I of course got a little 
>concerned (especially when we saw several mine-fields. We were driving 
>cross-country at night with no lights, only by full moonlight, (not a safe 
>thing in an old war zone where mine-fields are still around).
>The next morning we arrived at the tent of the nomad who found the 
>pallasite. He led us there, over the berm and military fighting 
>emplacements to the site, Algeria was only about 2 kilometers away.
>The place is a small area about 10 meters across, many pieces, mostly shale 
>fragments full of olivine crystals, and some small individuals. I searched 
>it for about an hour and found many pieces, and one of the other Moroccans 
>found a piece about 80 grams, just metal, no crystals. We had planned a 
>careful search, but one of the Moroccans spotted a military patrol coming 
>so we packed up quickly and fled. It is very flat there, nowhere to hide. 
>They chased us for about 2 hours but we were too far ahead and they could 
>not catch up, but it was close enough for me. An American with 
>Metal-detectors, GPS,s, video cameras, and Satellite phones, is not welcome 
>in a closed military zone.  I had to hide as much as possible, dressed like 
>a Moroccan, under blankets, until we left Western Sahara and got back to 
>Assa.
>It was not a fun trip, and when we got to Assa, the hotel owner found out 
>we had been in Al Mahbas and called the local military colonel, who 
>promptly arrived to find out why we were in a prohibited area, and demanded 
>a large bribe to allow us to avoid some very serious problems. The bribe 
>was paid needless to say, but they had my information and copy of my 
>passport from the hotel.
>I immediately demanded to get back to civilization and get the hell out of 
>the country, which I did.
>I will give everyone the coordinates of the Pallasite, and anyone with the 
>cajones to go there can be my guest. I have been around the world many 
>times, and to worse places than this, but there is nothing that will put 
>the fear of god in you like driving as fast as the vehicle will go for 
>hours with military chasing you through mine-fields!
>This business can get dangerous as I just found out.
>
>On the second note, we also dealt with the new fall there, and it is a 
>total disaster. I did not bother to go to the site, as all of my guys were 
>there and none of them got any of the meteorite, and the people who had it 
>offered it to them for $6 to $10 gram! I think that is absolutely ludicrous 
>and anyone who pays that will seriously regret it as I expect it will be 
>$1.00 gram soon enough, like Amgala and Bensour, the price will spike at 
>the beginning, and collapse when more and more comes out.
>There is a lot of it, many kilos and it will be available. I had other 
>problems to deal with there and the new fall was the least on my list.
>There is a lot more to this entire story, but this is the gist of it.
>For me, the Moroccans have become far to untrustworthy lately and I am 
>likley done with that mess over there.
>Michael Farmer
>
>
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