Mercury and gold???

[SCV-MIKE]

I was given some mercury to get the fine gold out of my black sand and the mecury isn't getting all the gold like I though it would. What am I don't wrong? THanks Colin

 

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[aarthrj3811]

I alway's put my black sand in a bucket of Vinagar and salt for a few says. Shake the bucket everytime you go by it. This will clean the gold so the Mercury can grab it...Art

 

[dudes2112]

If you have a tumbler, throw some black sand in there with a couple ball bearings and let it run for a couple days.? Sometimes that will knock the small stuff off of the black sand.

Dudes

 

[SCV-MIKE]

I see the gold from fine to nice sizes in with the black sand and the mercury will roll right over the bigger pieces/ Why is that? I thought the mercury would grab on to all the gold.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Try cleaning the gold with the vinagar and salt. If it still will not pick up the gold try squeezing the Mercury through a piece if silk to clean it. Alway's use rubber gloves went working with Mercury....Art

 

[SCV-MIKE]

Thanks, Do I dump liquid vinegar and some table salt in with the black sand gold mix then drain the liquid out and let it dry? And after it drys then use the mercury? Thanks MIKE

 

[aarthrj3811]

I mix the vinagar and the salt. The portions I guess woulds be about 20 to one. Put the black sand in for about two days shaking when you pass by. I usually tumble it with mercury and run it through a blue bowl after this step but I think you could rinse it and then use the Mercury. I wrote the following a few years ago so it may help someone out there....Art

Cleaning your cons

I pan and remove all the gold you can see and bring everything else home. I screen every thing with 25, 50 and 100 mesh keeping them in separate buckets. I save the plus 25 mesh for later if my rods show that there is gold in it. I then soak the cons with vinegar ( it's cheap at Sam's Club.) for three days stirring it when ever I think of it.

I run it thought the blue bowl starting with the 25 mesh lowering the water level for each size collecting the gold as I go. I now have all the cons back in one bucket. I now take my hot plate outside ( the heat range dial goes from 1-7 and I have it at 3 1/2 ) and using a pyrex bowl dry it and dump each batch into a tub of cold water ( cracks the cons )

The next step I used a cement mixer when I was getting large amounts of cons from my big Dredges but now I use a rock tumbler. I put each batch in the tumbler with 4 half inch stainless steel ball bearings and turn it for two days ( more or less ) then add Mercury for another day. When I have all the cons back in a bucket I go back to the Blue Bowl.

I run it at a high water level and then at the lowest water level collecting the gold-mercury in snuffer bottles saving all the black sand. I pour all the gold-mercury into a newer pan ( the least amount of scratches ) working it with a small amount of water to bring all the mercury together taking the black sand out as I go. Using PLASTIC GLOVES I put a piece of fine silk over a pan and pour the gold-mercury into it. Grabbing the silk by the sides you can squish the excess mercury out of the silk saving the mercury for next year. You now dump the stuff in the silk into your pyrex bowl.

I then load my PU. I take a potable generator, hot plate, jugs of water, gold-mercury, saftey mask, Nitric acid and the remaining black sand go to a friends 20 acres of isolated land. I set everything up, start the generator, put on my mask, pour the nitric acid into the bowl and walk away for a 1/2 hour. When I return I fill the bowl with water and let it cool. I pour the water into a safe container and collect my gold. I then dry all the black sand to burn off any mercury that may be on it.

This is a long process but when it's raining and cold I set in the garage with a heater and drink a few beers while I run the blue bowl. My rods show me that there is still some gold in the black sand so I will crush it and start over.

 

[steppegold]

Better than mercury is a hand-cranked home-made shaking table. Gets the fine gold no problem. Mercury costs money and is a cumulative toxic poison.

 

[SCV-MIKE]

Try cleaning the gold with the vinagar and salt. If it still will not pick up the gold try squeezing the Mercury through a piece if silk to clean it. Alway's use rubber gloves went working with Mercury....Art

I'm having a hell of a time finding a piece of plain regular silk. Everything is polyester. MIKE

 

[aarthrj3811]

Hey Mike....Talked to my wife and she said the last cloth she gave me was taffeta. Cloth made of rayon or nylon will work...Art

 

[Jeffro]

I use a syringe and cotton ball. A little baking soda dry on your mercury will help clean it, too. I just throw the merc in the tumbler with my black sand and a little water and let it run for a few hours. Does the scrubbing and coating at the same time.

When panning it out, add a little extra Mercury to help collect all the little balls that will form from tumbling. Or use a wheel.

 

[SCV-MIKE]

I use a syringe and cotton ball. A little baking soda dry on your mercury will help clean it, too I can't picture this. Can you explain it a little better, MIKE

 

[Jeffro]

A syringe and a cotton ball will do two things, first is clean your merc so it will pick up gold better. gets rid of the surface impurities. You basically strain the merc. Put the cotton ball in the syringe, add the merc, then plunge it.

Same thing when recovering your gold, it will be in a ball trapped in the cotton, while the clean merc comes out the other end. Use a dilute solution of nitric acid to remove the rest of the merc from your gold, and you are ready to melt it or whatever.

Oh yeah, and a neat trick. To get the merc that went into soultion in the nitric back, simply mix up a little baking soda/water and add the acid solution to it. (neutralizing the acid here) Then drop a clean piece of copper in and the merc will come out of solution and adhere to the copper.

I have heard this, but haven't tried it.... someone told me that if you put dirty mercury in a bottle and add some dry baking soda, cap it off and give it a good shake, the soda will "scrub" the impurities off the surface of the merc, allowing it to pick up gold better.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Thanks Jeffro...Sounds like a good system. I know guys who burn the mercury off in steel pans on their campfire. Stupid idea. I try to tell others how to do it the save way. The fumes from Mecrury and Nitric Acid can be deadly.

I haven't used the copper to recover the Mercury in years. When we were using a cement mixer to tumble the cons and throwing 10 lbs of Mercury in each batch it was worth the trouble to recover it. These small batches waste a small amount of Murcury....Art

 

[Jeffro]

This is true, Art. the amount of merc left in the solution is piddly, I add that all the time for the environmentally conscious....LOL!

 

[aarthrj3811]

When I'm done with the solution I put it in a plastic jug and add some baking soda. I then fill the bottle with water, seal the cap with duct tape, put a label on it about the contents and set it on the curb for pick-up. I don't like to expose the minimum wage workers at the recycle plant to this stuff but thats what the law is here. As The Buzzard always said, May the bottom of your pan always be gold....Art