forY Night, Lamine Hanoun works as a hospital guard at Bir Moghrein, near the borders of Mauritania with the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco. One day, he clarified his phone, achieved from Tiktok and Facebook, which he uses to sell meteorites to the rest of the world.
In this previous French colonial city, the network signals come and go like the dusty wind. On the morning of the last days when the connection disappeared again, the stars lines in the local customs office were not available, Mitsubishi Glx led him to the outskirts of the city.
The swamp sits through the blue paper under the shades of an Arabic tree gum without leaves.
“I worked for 10 years in construction in Andalusia, but my elderly mother was then sick,” said Hannon, who was fluent in Spanish, French and Hassania.
“So I went back to become drowned and one day I started looking for stones,” he added, pouring mint tea back and forth between cups to cool it. Ultimately, Maza sold – to finance his brother’s travel to Spain and provide their sick mother – and focused on the meteor trade.
These days, meteorites are often waiting for the stones to be brought to. If it is believed that the stone is valuable, it will run a price and then resell it on social media. Sometimes, he ventures in the desert to perform its own inspections. Recently, in one of this research, Khuna Abu Ahmadou, 35 -year -old, met with a group of valuable space. It turns out that no.
Bridges and buyers
Although meteorites can fall anywhere on the ground, the desert has become a major area for their discovery, partly because the climate is favorable to preserve it, but also because it is relatively easy to discover it against sand.
In the nineties of the last century, the fishermen and brokers began in the meteorite, but the discovery of the meteorite was not in the region, which controls that the meteorite man, the meteorite feature, in the region.
Meteorological Bulletin database, a global catalog of adopted meteorites, they are now registering More than 300 meteor From Mauritania, which makes it one of the best African countries. Bear Mogherin features in the list.
In the city, only a few thousand residents are home, the usual interruptions to their daily calmness are the call to prayer or a passer -by water truck. But under the roof its history lies as an unofficial mining city and the desert smuggling gate.
Officially, 10 % of Mauritanian population is unemployed. But many of those who have been martyred in official statistics as an employee do informal or inaccurate jobs or seasonal labor. Many people work on multiple vehicles, especially manifestations, who make them deserted by climate change more difficult.
The eye of a deal now leads a lot to take a meteor trading. Their animals are used as a scout and some hunters lying at night, and they are waiting for the new rocks to drop from the sky. Drivers take their discoveries throughout the country, happy to obtain a percentage of sales. Hannon children, both of whom are less than ten, sometimes bring gravel as gifts, hoping to be treasures.
On Facebook, there are groups of dozens of enthusiasts from all over the Middle East and North Africa who discuss color, origin and density of stones from Mauritania. On Tiktok, brokers use Arab classic stories and multiple signs of signs of retail to display their catalog.
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Khouna oud Ahmedou is Goatherd, but in his spare time, he devotes himself to searching for meteors
It is difficult to get truly valuable stones and most of those around Bir Moghrein are low -value Shundretta. Local population tells tales of families that transport 20 liters for both water and fuel at the back of a 4 x 4 truck, only to return after days or weeks of the desert. As the number of discoveries has decreased, some fishermen and brokers turn into other vehicles.
The mediators say that the stone darker, the more valuable. But preoccupation with colors led to deception; Some brokers now add tiktok filters or wet vegetables to darken them and they are the distant buyers who have to get stones first in order to verify them.
Not everyone is a fan of social media mediation, including Mohamed Al -Omar, headquartered in Nactchot, head of the Mauritanian Association for Prevention and Necessary Stones for Protection.
“If people sell meteorites on Tijhak to make a rapid profit, it will harm the economy,” he said. “These practices benefit the medium … Meteork is valuable and rare, and they should not be sold at a cheap price through informal channels.”
Throughout the desert, there is a fragmented desert economy in which fishermen sell at low prices for mediators inside and sweeping their countries of origin. Ultimately, stones at several times end up selling their original sale with scientists and collections in distant places such as Australia and the United States. Hanoun gives an example of a stone weighing 285 grams selling for about 50 euros in Mauritania, and it reaches this price in Europe, but it goes to up to $ 1,000 (740 pounds) per gram in the United States.
In November 2023, the largest Mars meteorite that was absolutely found in northwest Niger was discovered before making his way to a special exhibition in Italy. Last month, a 25 kg stone He brought 5.3 million dollars At an auction in New York, which leads to an investigation by the authorities in Niamey. in statement When admitting that Niger has no specific legislation on meteorites, the government referred to “illegal international trafficking”.
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Mars Nizak, weighs 54.388 pounds (25 kg), is said to be the largest piece of Mars on the ground, in Sotheby
Currently, Mauritania does not have a national framework for intention, and therefore trade is completely not organized and its scale is unknown. Hannon said he once paid 5000 Ouguiya (93 pounds) for a five -year license and has not been renewed since then, but most fishermen and brokers work informally. “They say you need permission,” ignore. “No one pays.”
In Noukchott, even government officials know little about the growing sector. “[Finding meteorites] “It is a place in the north of the country. It is not really a joint trade,” said Sidi Mouloud, a spokeswoman for the Investment Promotion Agency in Mauritania.
Returning to Bir Moghrein, Hanoun calls on his endeavor to obtain a large payment day. He said: “You do not find the meteor, as it finds you.” “It is a gift from heaven.”