[meteorite-list] Some comments regarding Oman

Tue Jun 28 10:10:35 EDT 2005

Dear listmembers

One of the reasons that make meteorites so fascinating is that we don't stop to 
wonder about all the information they carry to Earth. Recently, another source 
of astonishment has turned up: Comments about meteorite collection in Oman and 
all the related stories. Some time ago we already posted a statement but I am 
not sure it went through, so I post it again below.

Just some comments on recent developments in the discussion:

1) John Blennert's Website: I can understand his frustration to some extent, 
and I get the impression that the tale of events given by him is realistic, so 
this adds to clarification. However, to state that travelling in Oman is 
dangerous is ridiculous. It is also dangerous to travel and live in Switzerland 
or any country if you do not obey the law. Laws concerning prospecting for 
minerals and rocks are not handed out at airports in any country (at least I 
have never seen such activity), but it appears logical that foreigners planning 
to collect rocks on a large scale would contact local authorities beforehand to 
check out. Any person reading John B.'s account in detail will stumble over 
inconsistencies, such as "just collecting a few rocks for fun" versus: 9 
persons invest several weeks, rent several 4WD's, return to Oman several times 
within a few months. That does not appear as the typical habit of people just 
wanting to collect a few rocks for fun during a holiday trip..... I find this 
website is just an insult to a whole country for which I have very fond 
feelings and memories.  Besides, I fully agree with what Martin Altmann 
recently posted.

2) A meteorite museum in Oman
I agree that setting up a whole meteorite museum probably would be both 
difficult and the future would be uncertain. However, there is a nice Natural 
History Museum in Muscat where a section about meteorites might be installed 
without too much trouble. The future of such a display of even of a museum 
will, however, very strongly depend on how meteorite collection in Oman will be 
managed in future. Our group is certainly supporting the idea of a display in 
Oman.

3) A pallasite may still be missing from Oman, but we found a nice 8 kg IIIAB 
octaedrite: Shisr 043. 

With my best regards

Beda Hofmann

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EARLIER STATEMENT of May 20, 2005
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Statement of the „Swiss group“ regarding the recent developments in Oman

Dear listmembers

The recent developments in Oman has led to the circulation of lots of rumors, 
also referring to our activities. Here we try to contribute to a clarification 
regarding our involvement.

The Institute of Geology, University of Bern, Switzerland, has a long-standing 
(>35 years) scientific collaboration with Oman. This collaboration always was 
of mutual benefit: Swiss geologists have access to unique field sites and in 
turn a significant number of Omani geologists have beed educated in 
Switzerland. Until 2001, this activity has not involved meteorite research, but 
was purely earth science oriented. During all this time samples were exported 
with permits from the Directorate General of Minerals (DGM), Ministry of 
Commerce and Industry, which is responsible for minerals.

After the first publication of many Oman meteorite finds in Met. Bull. 84 
(2000), we asked for the permission to search for meteorites on the basis of a 
collaboration in the tradition mentioned above. This permission was granted. 
Since 2001, we have conducted four search campaigns in collaboration with and 
involving Omani geologists. Our permission only concerns the collection and 
export for study, all samples are defined as Omani property up to this date. We 
do not have a problem with this, as our interest is purely scientific. We have 
contributed with the finds to an exhibition at the Natural History Museum Bern 
(Nov. 03-Sept 04) where, among others, the main mass of SaU 169 was shown to 
the public for nearly a year.

We do not have in any way the feeling that our group should be the only one 
having the permission to search in Oman. We have communicated repeatedly to DGM 
that we would not mind if other groups get a permission, provided that 
information on the exact location is gathered and all specimens are classified/
checked for pairing. We have also repeatedly suggested that the laws/
regulations should be made accessible either by publication in a journal (e.g. 
MAPS) or on a website.

As scientists and museologists we prefer to maintain good relations with the 
community of collectors and dealers (of meteorites and minerals). We do not 
have and never had have the intention, therefore, to turn in persons that have 
been searching for meteorites in Oman. No Swiss person has taken action to 
provoke the arrests of foreign meteorite searchers.

Nevertheless, we support the idea of the Omani governments to get control over 
the, so far, mostly unregulated collecting activities. In this context it is 
certainly true that our collaboration with DGM has led to an increased 
awareness of meteorites and their scientific value in Oman, and we are eager to 
contribute to a process that eventually will lead to careful and appropriate 
management of one of the richest meteorite accumulation areas in the world.

Repeatedly it has been claimed that it was „perfectly legal“  to collect and 
export meteorites from Oman. We were always aware that this is not true, even 
though we have not seen the law in writing either. But we also need to obtain a 
permission for exporting any kind of common rock material. However, we would be 
very interested to know should anybody have gotten information from an official 
Omani source (e.g. embassy) that exporting of rocks and, inpaerticular, of 
meteorites does not require a permission.

Beda Hofmann and Edwin Gnos
Natural History Museum Bern / University of Bern, Switzerland

========================================
Beda Hofmann
University of Berne
beda.hofmann at nmbe.unibe.ch

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