El Ali ( Somali : Degmada Ceel Cali ) is a district in the central Hiran region of Somalia . El Ali has a population of around 120,000 inhabitants. The broader El Ali District has a total population of 543,345 residents. El Ali means (Ali's well). El-Ali's residents largely belong to the Galje'el (or Gaaljecel) sub-clan of Dirisame .
6-452: The El Ali meteorite was identified by Kureym Mining and Rocks Company's staff in 2020 and trucked towards Mogadishu . Prior to that, the rock had been celebrated for between five and seven generations, featuring in songs, folklore, dances, and poems. In 2022, the mineral elaliite was named after El Ali after being identified in the meteorite by scientists at the University of Alberta . It
12-489: A French laboratory in the 1980s, but International Mineralogical Association rules meant they could not be approved as an official mineral until they were found in a natural sample. The location of the main mass of the meteorite is uncertain; it was last recorded being shipped to China, presumably for sale. Small samples are held at the University of Arizona , the University of Alberta, and UC Los Angeles . The future of
18-652: Is situated 75 km south west of Beledweyne , the capital of the Hiiraan region. El Ali is predominantly inhabited by people from the Somali ethnic group, with the Dirisame sub-clan of the main Gaaljecel clan especially well represented. 4°12′N 44°59′E / 4.200°N 44.983°E / 4.200; 44.983 El Ali meteorite The El Ali meteorite (Arabic) or Ceel Cali (Somali) (known traditionally by
24-551: The locals as Shiid-Birood and recently by the finders as Nightfall ), literally meaning, "Ali's Well," is a 15,150-kilogram (16.70-short-ton) meteorite that was known to the local population in Somalia for generations, but officially recognized as a meteorite only in 2020. El Ali was found in a limestone valley 15 kilometres north of El Ali at GPS location 4°17.281’N, 44°53.893’E in September 2020. Local pastoralists were aware of
30-422: The rock for between five and seven generations, and it featured in songs, folklore, dances, and poems. The meteorite was brought to the attention of the international community by Kureym Mining and Rocks Company's staff who were prospecting for opals in the area. They identified the rock and started moving it to Mogadishu before the Somalia government intervened and released it back to the miners. The meteorite
36-452: Was then shipped to China where it was supposedly awaiting sale, as of November 2022. It is an IAB meteorite . In 2022, scientists from the University of Alberta identified two new minerals ( elaliite and elkinstantonite ) in a 70 gram piece of the meteorite. The minerals were identified by Andrew Locock, the head of the university's electron microprobe laboratory. Synthetic versions of both minerals had previously been produced in
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