Meteorites...????

[popwinters]

Watched a yankie show on TV ch50 today called 'Metiorite Men' where they track down these great magnetic lumps of metior buried in the ground full of iron and amazing valueable crystals. They use this huge rectangular type plastic pipe framed (some 3-4mtr wide and 2-3mtr long ) coil sled set up and towed behind a vehicle, connected by some sort of detector signal pickup box. Apparently what they find on these searches are quite valueable and rare in more ways than one. How the devil they research locations etc beats me, but sure is fascinating to see what they get up to and achieve.
Is any one aware of such finds and happenings in Aussie? Anyone ever seen any Aussie stories around worth a read? ...Curious....Ole Kev popwinters.

 

[Bugsey]

Hey popwinters yeah i have seen that show and its pretty interesting. I did some research for Australia google search Australia's best meteorite craters and check out the national geographic site it will give you a map of suspected meteor sites.

 

[the duck]

But check out the laws in australia on them it is very strict

 

[taz]

a good place to have a look around is nundle... as well as thunder eggs , gold , gems, crystals, and dino poo.. yes poo.

 

[axeman]

I thought that if you found one you had to hand it in, I'm not sure if that's all states but that is what I was told about Queensland, could be crap. A few years ago I was at my work camp out the back of the woop-woops cooking tea on the open fire, it was about 7 o'clock and dark when the sky turned a fluro green and the whole area as far as I could see had lit up like the middle of the day except in fluro green, only lasted a few seconds. Experts said it was a very low flying meteorite and a farmer and his son seen it crash into a hill near Toowoomba. They said it was to dark and the country to rough to go looking that night so they said they would have look the next morning and that was the last I heard of it. Mick

 

[skylinegaz]

hi new to the site saw that show the other night and they were in aus on the nullabor plain somewhere maybe be able to see a repeat or find that episode somehow good show though i enjoyed it

 

[Jed]

Hi All

In late Sep13 I will be driving to WA for 5 wks across the Nullabor & through Mundrabilla WA so I am interested in having a detect for the famous Mundrabilla iron meteorites.
Grateful for any weblinks or info about the Mundrabilla iron meteorites or Nullabor meteorites in general - PM me if you like.

FYI the TV show is here on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYPHy7BT-U - is this the show Kev?

Bugsey - I looked at the national geographic site for maps of suspected meteor sites but could not find the maps - do you have a weblink you could send me?
I did find this interesting info http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=42813

cheers
Jed

 

[Diggerdude]

Your not allowed to collect meteorites at Mudarabilla, all meteorites in WA belong to the crown.

DD

 

[Jed]

Thanks Diggerdude for the heads up - do you have a weblink that tells me what the WA "rules of engagement" are on meteorite finds?
That is a real shame as I was feeling lucky having grown up in Merredin WA
cheers Jed

 

[Jed]

FYI Folks - I spoke to the WA Museum today & this is the official situation on WA meteorites.

In Western Australia meteorites are the property of the State, and ownership is vested in the Trustees of the WA Museum. However, they always try to do the right thing by finders and there is provision in the legislation to allow finders to retain material that they can then sell legally. They first have to offer the material to the Museum. If the meteorite(s), such as Mundrabilla, are well represented in the collection, then the Trustees can transfer ownership to the finder.
see www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/ma1969107/s45.html

WA Museum holds around 20 tonnes of Mundrabilla, including the largest mass of 12.4 tonnes.

In regards to http://www.meteorites-for-sale.com/mundrabilla.html
WA Museum advise they look like genuine pieces of Mundrabilla. It is possible that they were legally exported from Austrtalia. However, there is also a large illegal trade. Meteorites in Australia are also protected Federally by the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act (1986). Essentially the unauthorised export of meteorites from Australia is illegal. However, it is possible to export them with a permit or letter of clearance.

Happy meteorite hunting!
Jed

 

[goldDigger]

i just the the show in the last couple of days in the episode i saw the 2 yanks had joined up with 2 russians to find some in russia . ended up finding 3. i did notice they had a large rectangular pvc coil arrangement maybe 4 foot by 3 which they connected up to what looked like a modified metal detector box and they just disconnected it and the plugged the cable and shaft of a normal detector in when they want to fine tune things. the big pvc coil seemed to pick up down to 2 meters and they did dig a couple of pretty deep holes and pull meteors out of them. they also found a lot of old metal so you guys with detectors aren't alone when you find junk you can get it even in russia lol

 

[Rickd]

They have done a show in Australia its on YouTube