WILL PAY FOR METEORITES

A rural Montana couple says it's willing to pay up to $10,000 for actual meteorites. Marlin Cilz and his wife Debbie own a company called the Montana Meteorite Laboratory located in Malta, Montana. They tell the Great Falls Tribune that they will pay up to the ten grand price at a payout of $10 per pound.

Mr. Cilz has been collecting meteorites since childhood. He cuts, polishes and etches the rocks and then sells them to universities and other collectors around the world. Cilz notes that even though meteorites are small, when the enter they atmosphere they come crashing in with a sound that resembles a freight train.

He tells would-be meteorite hunters that most of the space visitors are dark and smooth and can be attracted to most magnets. They are usually rust-colored brown or black and some have shallow depressions in them as if caused by a human thumb ... were the material actually soft at one time. Cilz says that too many people have come in contact with meteorites and think they are just plain rocks. Many farmers, clearing their fields, have stacked them into piles as "discards." He says that the largest one he has purchased weighed 400 pounds.

Montana Meteorite Lab can be reached at 406-654-2192.