[meteorite-list] EBAY Slag for sale

From: STARSANDSCOPES at aol.com <STARSANDSCOPES_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 15:59:06 EDT
Message-ID: <cc2.12a2b70e.33bea78a_at_aol.com>

Hi List, The slag that Herman and Randy are talking about can be very
enticing to those not familiar with it and really want to see what they want to
see. About 5 years ago I was fooled. While hunting for meteorites in an area
around Las Vegas I found some stones that were high iron and tested positive
for nickel. They looked like a mesosiderite.

I listed a few (5 in total) on eBay as a possible meteorite. This was
before I had one tested and shown to be not a meteorite. One of the winners
stopped by my house on his way to The Tucson Show. He was impressed but his
companion recognized the material for what it was and asked if there were any
train tracks in the area.

I went to where I had found my samples and walked about a half mile up a
wash. I came on a very old mining rail remnant. All track had been removed
many years ago but the slag pile that was used to fill between the ties was
still evident. It was a mile long strip of valuable meteorites!

I accepted the fact that this stuff was not a meteorite, but it seems others
(perhaps intentionally) will not look at the facts.

The old methods of iron production left a lot of iron in the slag. Modern
foundrys are more efficient. Consequently, the old slag seems like there is
no way it could be a waist product with so much iron in it. I don't know why
this slag tests positive for nickel, but it does!

Tom Phillips starsinthedirt




************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
Received on Thu 05 Jul 2007 03:59:06 PM PDT