[meteorite-list] Some comments regarding Oman
From: John Blennert <goldmaster_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Jun 28 16:48:20 2005 Message-ID: <000b01c57c22$b27c4cb0$41f0f004_at_Goldmaster> Hello Beda and List First I want to apoligize for insinuating that the Oman snitch was Edwin or You . It was a young blond haired Swiss guy that the other Russians ran into in Oman . It was he that stired up the police on a man hunt that ended us in jail . I'm certain you know who he is since he's part of your hunting team . If you read the omani document or translation you'll understand more.I personally think that your University has been dooped by bieng told there were laws . It behoves me why they just don't make some law or make a royal decree that is specific ?? Hey if we were in the wrong I'll be the first to apoligize to the Sultan himself. But after almost 3 months of digging and begging I still have not seen any law pertaining to meteorites or such. I think if they are so worried about thier space rocks they would make an effort to make thier laws a little more transparent. In your next travels there why don't you stroll into any book store or sovineer shop and by one of those books I posted on the web sight. Read it, then and only then you can tell me about all the mining law requirements and export permits that a tourist needs to get !! If it were just me I would not make a big tadooo about this whole incedent . I have the financial means to not make a big deal out of it . But several of my friends were financially devastated. I think if your country handled misdamenor criminals in the same manor your tourism would or should be in the toilet too !! Maybe I need to make a dont visit the swiss .com web sight too !! :o) Regards John Blennert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beda Hofmann" <beda.hofmann_at_nmbe.unibe.ch> To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 7:10 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Some comments regarding Oman > 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 > > *********************** > EARLIER STATEMENT of May 20, 2005 > *********************** > 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 > > ------------------------------------------------------ > This mail was sent through IMP at http://mail.unibe.ch > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > Received on Tue 28 Jun 2005 04:48:00 PM PDT |
StumbleUpon del.icio.us Yahoo MyWeb |