The previous auction didn't receive any buyers, so it has been relisted as:
http://cgi.ebay.com/UTAH-Crystal-Ball-M ... 286.c0.m14The price has been lowered to $2,500. Please don't bid on this. Your money will be wasted. You will not receive ownership of the cave. You will only encourage Corey Shuman to do similar actions on other caves.
Here are a few things, composed hastily, that have been gleaned from the auction site:
Crystal Ball Cave has been reclassified by Shuman as a mine.
Shuman defines an adit as "A horizontal access point to a mine" and uses the fact that the USGS topographic map has adit symbols at each cave entrance and uses the label "Adits". The adit symbol is also used for caves. Using this definition he has apparently declared that Crystal Ball Cave is a mine, because the "USGS says so". On other forums and/or perhaps the first auction, he said this in so many words. I am not able to bring up the first auction listing on eBay to check, but I swear that I have seen this statement. If he is going to be that technical, he should also be aware that the adit symbols are misplaced on the map and do not represent the true locations. They are close, but not cigar.
Using this declaration, his photos, numbers 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are all labeled clearly as photos of the interior of the "mine" but are of course the cave's interior. Photos 5 and 7 are of calcite crystals clearly from the cave’s interior.
His claims of illustrated ore are ridiculous:
Photo #8: "An example of the iron ore bodys (sic) within the mine" is a photo of slightly iron-stained calcite crystals and black limestone bedrock. Shuman has no concept of what constitutes iron ore. Ore is mineralization that can be mined for a profit. There may be a few ounces of iron oxides here, but little else.
Photo #10: " An example of a body of lead ore within the mine." is again a photo of calcite and black limestone bedrock at the back. Black limestone is not the galena he mentions.
Shuman has gotten wiser and no longer claims the area has quartz veins with gold and silver.
His auction is highly contradictory:
"This auction is not for any Speleothems, Stalactites or Stalagmites. This auction is not for any cave formations of any sort." All of these are clearly shown. The individual calcite crystals are defined as speleothems by any speleologist.
"This auction is not for ownership of a cave or any sort of cave related items. Its is for control of locatable minerals and the ability to secure the land on which your minerals are located." Obviously contraditory.
"20000ft+ of tunnels! Iron-Galena-Calcite-Valid Claims There are massive amounts of calcite and flourspar (sic) as well as iron, and galena. There is also good potential for gemstones in the area." Fluorspar presence is highly unlikely.
To me, some statements are amusing: "You can expect to find an amazing oasis in the desert here. The mine is huge,
around 20000 feet of volume. and 5000 feet of tunnels and passages. And a lot more inside the mine and in the area of the claims that is still unexplored. View the pics, ask some questions... dont miss out on this one. The potential
here is limitless!! Questions?? ASK!!"
"5000 feet of tunnels" should be more like 650 feet between entrances! The cave is completely explored.
The BLM is already on this problem. Last week they put government locks on the gates. Removing a government lock is clearly a trespassing violation.
I don't know how to respond to eBay about this. Their complaint process allows only listing of the auction number with no explanation of the problem. E-mail letters will probably never get read considering the volume they get daily. My advice is to let the BLM handle this.
Stay tuned.