WOW

johnedoe

Bronze Member
Jan 15, 2012
1,489
2,239
Oregon Coast
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White's V3i, White's MXT, and White's Eagle Spectrum
Cleangold sluice & prospectors pan, EZ-Gold Pan, and custom cleanup sluice.
Primary Interest:
Other
Not surprising.....But pretty cool though..:laughing7:
 

N-Lionberger

Bronze Member
Dec 1, 2013
1,359
1,949
Arcata, California
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Fisher 1212-x
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Whites 4900/SP3
Dowsing rods
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Prospecting
Thats a lot of mercury, I have watched some of this guys other videos he's pretty liberal with the stuff I wonder how long he has LOL.
 

Bonaro

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2004
977
2,213
Olympia WA
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Minelab Xterra 70, Minelab SD 2200d, 2.5", 3", 4"and several Keene 5" production dredges, Knelson Centrifuge, Gold screw automatic panner
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Thats a lot of mercury, I have watched some of this guys other videos he's pretty liberal with the stuff I wonder how long he has LOL.

He will be around as long as you and I...Mercury is not nearly a toxic as the Govt. wants you to believe.
 

Rail Dawg

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2015
491
890
Northern Nevada
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MineLab GPZ 7000
Garrett ATX Pro
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
We recently found a really nice outcropping of mercury ore (cinnabar) out in the middle of nowhere in Northern Nevada.

Must have been worth a mint a hundred years ago lol.
 

Rail Dawg

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2015
491
890
Northern Nevada
Detector(s) used
MineLab GPZ 7000
Garrett ATX Pro
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
It's still worth a mint Rail Dawg. At $1 a gram retail it's worth almost twice as much as spot silver.

No kidding? We didn't even check as we thought mercury was a has-been element.

It was found on un-claimed BLM land and there was quite a bit of it.

Truly out in the middle of nowhere lol.

Thanks for the info.
 

Clay Diggins

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2010
4,862
14,180
The Great Southwest
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No kidding? We didn't even check as we thought mercury was a has-been element.

It was found on un-claimed BLM land and there was quite a bit of it.

Truly out in the middle of nowhere lol.

Thanks for the info.

2,000 tons a year used in the U.S. alone. Ever hear of fluorescent lightning? How about Vinyl? PVC?

Yep Mercury. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

Bonaro

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2004
977
2,213
Olympia WA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 70, Minelab SD 2200d, 2.5", 3", 4"and several Keene 5" production dredges, Knelson Centrifuge, Gold screw automatic panner
Primary Interest:
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gold tramp

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2012
1,379
2,879
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Just dont swallow everything you are fed and you will be fine

Only thing bein fed round here is a 4x6 burford jaw crush makiin big rocks into gravel
An arrastra bein fed gravel makin it into sand.

A shaker table bein fed sand and makin yellow metal.

Finaly i will use some mercury catch that yellow.

You use much mercury this week?
It should be like the bumper, sticker. If you weren't there shut up.
Just funnin.

Guess cause i use it often i have a differant respect for it.
Gt.....
 

Reed Lukens

Silver Member
Jan 1, 2013
2,653
5,417
Congres, AZ/ former California Outlawed Gold Miner
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Tesoro Vaquero, Whites MXT, Vsat, GMT, 5900Di Pro, Minelab GPX 5000, GPXtreme, 2200SD, Excalibur 1000!
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All Treasure Hunting
Only thing bein fed round here is a 4x6 burford jaw crush makiin big rocks into gravel
An arrastra bein fed gravel makin it into sand.

A shaker table bein fed sand and makin yellow metal.

Finaly i will use some mercury catch that yellow.

You use much mercury this week?
It should be like the bumper, sticker. If you weren't there shut up.
Just funnin.

Guess cause i use it often i have a differant respect for it.
Gt.....

Yup, long term exposure gets'em every time. We almost bought a cinnabar mine but the life long owners didn't have enough calcium left in their bones to keep them from breaking all the time... After seeing them and what was left of their health, we walked away from it.
 

Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
6,077
13,222
Sailor Flat, Ca.
🥇 Banner finds
1
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I knew a guy whos family owned land in Terlingua Tx.

They had old Cinnabar mines on it. He said you on hot days with the right light you could see fumes at the heads of the shafts and waste piles.

I don't know if that's true or even possible but he told me.\

True or not I wouldn't camp near cinnabar deposits... especially on hot days :laughing7:
 

Clay Diggins

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2010
4,862
14,180
The Great Southwest
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Mercury vapor is colorless and odorless. I seriously doubt those "fumes" had anything to do with the mercury from the mine. Besides the vapor being invisible cooler air from a mine escaping upward into warmer air is not a concept that normal physics can support.

We were working on the first mercury vapor detector at JIC in 1980. We field tested an undisturbed natural grassland just North of Prescott. The readings were very high. The area was not known to have significant mercury deposits before that time. There is no way to tell just where mercury vapor concentrations are high short of testing air samples at the molecular level.

Mercury does not enter the bloodstream easily through the skin, stomach or mucus membranes but mercury vapor entering the lungs is easily absorbed into the bloodstream. That's where the danger from elemental mercury lies. Touching or even eating elemental mercury has little effect but the evaporation to vapor of that same mercury occurs at room temperature and pressures and can be deadly over time in a closed space.

Keep your mercury tightly sealed and covered with water (if it's not charged) and you will be fine. Methylated mercury (organic product from some algae and bacteria) is very poisonous but it really can't exist for long in the western United States because of binding by the abundant natural element Selenium. Mercury binding with other elements in almost all cases reduces toxicity to acceptable levels.

Cinnabar is the mineral of mercury sulfide. The solubility and bioavailability of cinnabar are quite low. To get elemental mercury out of cinnabar ore it has to be roasted to temperatures well above 674 degrees Fahrenheit - the boiling point of Mercury. Because of the high temps to break out the Mercury from the sulfide form Cinnabar poisoning you in the field is not going to happen but you should be aware that elemental Mercury is sometimes found as droplets in very rich ores. You can see that in the Cinnabar deposits just south of San Francisco.

I'm not going to become a Mercury miner due to the expense of safety equipment and procedures but you are going to get more exposure from a broken light bulb that a properly equipped Mercury miner would.

Keep in mind that all minerals are potentially poisonous. Ingesting the dust or fumes from heating of minerals can be deadly. A lot more people by far have died from breathing ordinary mineral dust than from exposure to Mercury. If you are going to be grinding, crushing, heating or breathing mineral dust know what the hazards are and take the proper safety precautions. Be safe when mining or processing. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

goldog

Hero Member
Sep 25, 2012
923
987
Tujunga, CA
Detector(s) used
Bazooka Gold Trap, A-51, Gold Pan
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Cody and his mercury experiments are pretty cool. Try the flushing or standing videos.
 

Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
6,077
13,222
Sailor Flat, Ca.
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
SDC2300, Gold Bug 2 Burlap, fish oil, .35 gallons of water per minute.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Mercury vapor is colorless and odorless. I seriously doubt those "fumes" had anything to do with the mercury from the mine. Besides the vapor being invisible cooler air from a mine escaping upward into warmer air is not a concept that normal physics can support.

We were working on the first mercury vapor detector at JIC in 1980. We field tested an undisturbed natural grassland just North of Prescott. The readings were very high. The area was not known to have significant mercury deposits before that time. There is no way to tell just where mercury vapor concentrations are high short of testing air samples at the molecular level.

Mercury does not enter the bloodstream easily through the skin, stomach or mucus membranes but mercury vapor entering the lungs is easily absorbed into the bloodstream. That's where the danger from elemental mercury lies. Touching or even eating elemental mercury has little effect but the evaporation to vapor of that same mercury occurs at room temperature and pressures and can be deadly over time in a closed space.

Keep your mercury tightly sealed and covered with water (if it's not charged) and you will be fine. Methylated mercury (organic product from some algae and bacteria) is very poisonous but it really can't exist for long in the western United States because of binding by the abundant natural element Selenium. Mercury binding with other elements in almost all cases reduces toxicity to acceptable levels.

Cinnabar is the mineral of mercury sulfide. The solubility and bioavailability of cinnabar are quite low. To get elemental mercury out of cinnabar ore it has to be roasted to temperatures well above 674 degrees Fahrenheit - the boiling point of Mercury. Because of the high temps to break out the Mercury from the sulfide form Cinnabar poisoning you in the field is not going to happen but you should be aware that elemental Mercury is sometimes found as droplets in very rich ores. You can see that in the Cinnabar deposits just south of San Francisco.

I'm not going to become a Mercury miner due to the expense of safety equipment and procedures but you are going to get more exposure from a broken light bulb that a properly equipped Mercury miner would.

Keep in mind that all minerals are potentially poisonous. Ingesting the dust or fumes from heating of minerals can be deadly. A lot more people by far have died from breathing ordinary mineral dust than from exposure to Mercury. If you are going to be grinding, crushing, heating or breathing mineral dust know what the hazards are and take the proper safety precautions. Be safe when mining or processing. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
Yea, it didn't make much sense to me either... but, the old guy told cool stories.

I'm still not setting up a tent next to a hole in Tirlingua Texas
 

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