Daniel Sabo’s space rock case is again before the Yukon Supreme Court.
For more than a decade, Sabo has claimed the Geological Survey of Canada stole pieces of a meteorite he found near Mayo.
He discovered the strange mineral while placer mining in 1986.
Thirteen years later, he passed the meteorite onto Yukon geologist Charlie Roots to be analyzed.
But Sabo claims that was the last time he saw it.
When the Geological Survey of Canada returned the rock to Sabo in 1999, they gave him a fake, he said.
“When I looked at the specimen it was an eye-opener,” he said in court Tuesday.
“There was something obviously wrong with the surface of the meteorite.”
The “replica” weighed less than the original and was missing a distinct mineral vein running down the middle of it, he claims.
Sabo was hoping to sell the unique rock, which had begun to sprout unusual green and blue microbial growths on it after being exposed to Arizona’s dry heat.
He estimated he could have made hundreds of thousands of dollars on the sale, claiming that a rock of that type would fetch $35,000 to $50,000 per gram on the market.
The Geological Survey of Canada, the RCMP and even a lawyer that once represented Sabo - Lorne Austring
- all colluded together to keep his pricey rock samples from him, he said in court.
Penniless, Sabo decided to represent himself in court and has claimed indigent status which exempts him from paying any court fees.
In 2002, Sabo took his case to the Yukon Supreme Court hoping to get his rock samples back. His case dragged on for six years.
In 2008, he asked that a new judge preside over his case, stating that his then judge, Justice Ron Veale, was biased.
The Yukon Appeal Court dismissed his request.
Sabo’s case will be heard all week in court by Justice Adam Germaine.
Contact Vivian Belik at
vivianb@yukon-news.com