Is this mercury coated gold?

[280shooter]

Most of the mercury/gold that I have found has been squishy. Is this a thin coat of mercury? Thanks- Denny

 

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[strickman]

looks like mercury coated gold to me ! make sure to keep all coated gold separate from clean gold . is that 1 piece ,as in nugget ? or several small ones in a group ? if you look by the 70 mark you can see some gold shining.

 

[Shortstack]

Drop your pieces of mercury coated gold into a bowl of nitric acid and DON'T BREATH THE FUMES. Do it outside, too. The acid will boil away ALL of the mercury. Then, rinse the gold in clean water and it's cleaned. Again, DO NOT BREATH the fumes.

 

[280shooter]

It's one piece shot under a 40X shop scope. I have 4 or 5 like it plus a little ball of squishy mercury and gold. I've been seperating them and saving them until I get more. Thanks for the info.

 

[Hoser John]

Be safer and just use heat to burn the mercury off-waaaaaaaaaaaaay far away from anything(especially gardens) and be up wind always-John

 

[dave wiseman]

Whatever you use to get the mercury off,acid/heat...clean up with baking soda and water to neutralize and bring out the patina.You'll have dull gold in most cases after using cleaning agents...Dave in the motherlode.

 

[strickman]

Whatever you use to get the mercury off,acid/heat...clean up with baking soda and water to neutralize and bring out the patina.You'll have dull gold in most cases after using cleaning agents...Dave in the motherlode.

dave's right ,that will help, i always save mine till i get a fair amount .then do it all at one time ,then start saving for the next batch.

 

[kuger]

Thats multiple pieces in there,the merc "sticks them together",like that.As said whatever you use to get it off you will be left with dull gray gold,baking soda(do not use this and the shake method in a glass vial....IT WILL EXPLODE)or vinegar and salt,in a plastic vial,and shake it vigorously,it takes some time...a lot of time,but it will leave the gold bright and shiny(I dont like that,but thats how it goes)

 

[280shooter]

Thanks for the info. - Denny