On the 22nd March 1994, Accurate Cutting Services cut the 4.5 billion year-old Nantan meteorite into five pieces for the five European museums which funded its purchase.

Section of iron meteorite after sawingTV cameras rolled under green lights and national press reporters arrived to witness the event. Coverage followed on national TV and in articles in most local and national newspapers (which coincided, also, with a national science week).

The Nantan meteorite, named after the place where it was found, Nandan County, Guangxi, China (Nantan is now spelled Nandan), was originally part of a shower of lumps of iron totalling 9.5 tonnes, distributed over an area of 30 square kilometres. It is one of a rare group of IICD meteorites, with a composition 84.6% iron and 6% – 7% nickel.

Only 16 are known – but unlike most iron meteorites, this type never completely melted. They were found in 1958, when China needed a lot of steel to construct “New China”. During this period, everyone was told to look for iron ore: even cooking woks were melted, in back yards, to produce steel. Some farmers were lucky to find heavy rocks rich with iron in Nantan. Unfortunately, the “iron ores” would not melt. This puzzled the local people, and they reported it to the government.

Geologists arrived to study the rocks, and declared them to be iron meteorites. Accurate Cutting Services was chosen for the task of dissecting the meteorite after scientists at the Natural History Museum searched for a suitable contractor. This was the first time the company had been involved in bandsawing meteorites.