[Rockhounds] Kamil Crater, Egypt, "Strip-mined" and Destroyed by Meteorite Criminals

[Stephen Shimatzki]

Take your pick of who was involved... lots of pieces for sale.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kamil+crater+meteorite&iax=shopping&ia=shopping

I'm not encouraging it, but obviously illegal mining is a local thing and
the local economy will provide what people need to survive so... it
happened.  Sad but it happened.

Steve
Ohio

On Sun, Oct 13, 2024, 11:25 AM Paul <etchplain at att.net> wrote:

>
> I was looking at Wikipedia at the write up about the Kamil Crater at 22°
> 1'5.89"N latitude and 26° 5'15.69"E longitude. A recent addition
> to the article by Ediazmartinez at
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamil_Crater
> states:
>
> "According to evidence provided by Google Earth images, Kamil crater
> morphology and its prototypical rayed structure (well-preserved radiating
> features) have been destroyed between 2020 and 2023, most probably due
> to exhaustive plundering of meteorite fragments. The last image of the
> well preserved crater is of February 2020, whereas it is fully destroyed
> in
> the next image dated May 2023, so it was destroyed between those two
> dates. The size of the wheel tracks visible on trails to/from the former
> crater indicate that heavy machinery was used for the collection of
> meteoritic material.”
>
> The note was added on October 10, 2024
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kamil_Crater&diff=prev&oldid=1250464561
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Ediazmartinez
>
> I looked at the Google Earth images and essentially agree with what is
> written. Although the exact timeline is open to interpretation, the aerial
> images do show that this crater, which is a protected site, has been
> destroyed by people illegally mining it presumably for iron meteorite
> fragments and spherules. Heavy machinery, presumably electromagnets
> and other methods were used to vandalize, desecrate, and otherwise
> destroy this irreplaceable part of the Egypt's geological heritage for
> personal gain.
>
> Undoubtedly, there are stolen Egyptian meteorites already in
> the marketplace for sale somewhere.
>
> Yours,
>
> Paul H.
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