BALAMBALA METEORITE - RARE IIF IRON FOR SALE

Balambala is the name given to a rare IIF iron meteorite--only one of seven ever given this classification!--found in eastern Kenya in 2018. It was known to locals in the area for decades and called "Dhagax Bir", meaning metal stone in the local Somali dialect. A nomad eventually identified it as a meteorite in 2018 and brought it to a broker in Garissa. From there it was purchased and subsequently sliced and disseminated for collections.

Balambala is a roughly 61-kilogram, shield-shaped mass with extensive regmaglypts and minor rusting on its exteriors but no other signs of oxidation. It is a IIF iron, a rare classification of iron meteorite characterized by high nickel contents and high concentrations of metals such as gallium, germanium, copper, and cobalt. Their compositions match closely with planetesimal cores, and they could likely be from the same parent body as the Eagle Station Pallasites, which have similar metal compositions. Balambala often contains rounded troilite inclusions when sliced, with small spindles of kamacite surrounding schriebersite in a largely taenite matrix. Because of its high nickel content, it does not contain Widmanstätten lines outside of errant kamacite crystals.