Re: [meteorite-list] NWA 482 questions

[Adam Hupe]

Dear List Members, First of all I am sorry to hear of David Coleman's passing. I talked to him on the phone a few times regarding his awesome writings on lunar mineralogy. I ordered some of the products from Science Mall USA and was pleased that David and Sarah signed the books I ordered from them. I gave some of these books to the scientist at the University of Washington as gifts who appreciated them greatly along with the NWA 482 mouse mats since they did some study on this stone. I wished I knew him as well as other list members and will cherish these signed books forever. Again I am sorry to hear of his passing. As much as I hate to get into this conversation on the list I feel I need to make a few things clear about our recent visit to the Sahara. The comment was made that my brother Greg and I are trying to control the NWA market.  My response to this is quite simple, we will work with any list member who asks us questions regarding their finds. Anybody who thought they had found a prospective planetary specimen and asked us for our advice was encouraged to continue pursuing  more regardless of the outcome in the lab. We are currently working with three other list members who have substantial finds and when they announce their finds we will be among the first to congratulate them. We wish only the best for whoever finds a rare meteorite and encourage them to continue looking for more. Several list members can vouch for this. We are smart enough to know that no one team can control the supply of Northwest Africa meteorites. Habibi thought that the reporter with us was going to publish something bad about Morocco. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was there to write about the adventure of planetary meteorite hunting not the weight of NWA 482 or any other negative aspect as far as I can tell. The article will not be written in a negative tone because it is about adventure not fraud. This large magazine, which financed their part in this expedition, is more about out on the edge or extreme adventure which true out in the desert, meteorite expeditions represent. He was very impressed with the Moroccan hospitality and forwardness. He had to ask thousands of questions and anything printed will be verified for fact or left out. Simply said, it is not about buying meteorites, it is about the real searchers, the nomads and how they bring them to market. It is unfortunate how the correction on the NWA 482 main mass (312 gram) holder was published. We only claimed to be the owners of the main mass, not the whole stone since we put 50% of the expedition money up front and were entitled to the main mass from the moment it changed hands. No other investor or expedition member held title to the main mass. It is important for the scientific community to know where the main mass is for future study.  We reported this accuratly on our web site WWW.LunarRock.com . Sorry, I have rambled on long enough. I am very tired from a grueling three flights back from Morocco. We kept this trip secret so as nothing would be staged for the reporter and things would be more natural. Also outside investment money was brought in so it needed to be protected. We had no idea rumors would be stirred up, even clear out in the desert! Wishing everybody the very best, Adam Hupe