Although it seems like the plot of a science fiction movie, no, it is not. A meteorite falls on one of the most impoverished countries on Earth, Somalia, and after investigations it is determined to possess two mysterious new minerals. Now, China wants to have the discovery and will pay whatever they ask for.
the meteorite, called El Ali after the area where he fell in 2020, It weighs 15.2 metric tons and is the ninth largest ever found.
Two years later, scientists from the University of Alberta, in Canada, they discovered the metals inside.
The metals discovered in the meteorite fallen in Somalia
The first was baptized elalite, by the name of the meteorite, El Ali. The second is elkinstonite, in honor of Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Vice President of the Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University.
Chris Herd led the research, receiving input from Professor Andrew Locock, Director of the Electron Microprobe Laboratory at the University of Alberta.
“The first day that (Locock) did some analysis, he said ‘You have at least two new minerals there.’ That was phenomenal. Most of the time it takes a lot more work than that to say there’s a new mineral.” Herd explained in a press release.
In November 2022, the International Mineralogical Association approved the two new minerals, after examining the actual geological conditions and rock chemistry, unlike anything found naturally before.
Mineralogist Oliver Tschauner explained that the two minerals had been created synthetically in the past, but that they had never achieved them naturally, Like the Somali meteorite.
These new minerals are iron phosphates, “which are formed through the oxidation of phosphides,” says Tschauner, quoted by CNN. “The two new phosphates tell us about the oxidation processes that occurred in the meteorite material.”
In China there are buyers interested in the El Ali meteorite
Now, what is the fate of the El Ali meteorite? According to the scientist Herd, from Somalia it was brought to China. Presumably there is an interested buyer. Government? Nobody knows.
“Any time a new material is known,” Herd notes, “materials scientists are also interested, because of the potential uses in a wide range of things in society.” Will the buyer profit in this way?
