My golds sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

[josh]

My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

I was out panning and have brought back a few flakes of gold and put them in a vile. however I went panning today and found what looks like silver colored gold flakes (very small in this case) i put them in the vile as well because I thought they might be platinum or something. However the problem now is all my gold in the vile is sticking to the stuff like it was a magnet and gold was magnetic. Any ideas why?
thanks,
Josh

 

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[aa battery]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Pelegro Spanish for danger its mercury be careful

 

[josh]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Dang, is there anything else it might be? it's not in round balls like I'm used to seeing mercury. But it was funny i put it in my vial and was like where'd all my gold go. then i saw it all stuck to the stuff i was relieved but now I'm wondering how the heck to get it off.

P.S. it almost seems to be disfiguring the gold flakes went form defineable to almost blended with it now..

 

[flyspekau]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

LOL yeah its mercury get some nitric acid it will eat the mercury off the gold but be very careful with the acid do some research first heres a good site

http://www.49ermike.com/mercury_proceedure.shtml

 

[bigfish31]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Here's an example of gold with mercury covering it. Ruins the look.

 

[49erjohn]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

BIGFISH-- great to see some more of your gold!!! the top vial is gold with mercury on it? john

 

[aa battery]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

you guys know a lot more than i do about mercury but i do know it can be dangerous. I use the potato method in da fire

 

[kuger]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Yes what you are describing is definitely mercury,your gold is not disfigured,its amalgamated.Probably 60-70%of the gold I find in some areas has mercury on it and a little bit seems to grow.Be careful putting your gold in a vial,watch for it or you will end up with what you have.As far as what to do now,you might want to keep it aside because you will probably find more,put that in your mercury vial and keep your "clean",gold seperatly.Once you get a good amount there are several options,all of which are dangerous!!!Mercury in itself isnt that bad as far as handling in and such although I dont recommend it.But when you heat it ,or use nitric acid which you will have to do to remove it vapors will be released and if you breath those vapors it will kill you and it isnt a pleasant way to go.Nitric acid is what I use but good luck getting it!!A retort is probably the safest technique and one can be purchased.As far as the potato method I guess it works.....it never has for me.

 

[aa battery]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Yes what you are describing is definitely mercury,your gold is not disfigured,its amalgamated.Probably 60-70%of the gold I find in some areas has mercury on it and a little bit seems to grow.Be careful putting your gold in a vial,watch for it or you will end up with what you have.As far as what to do now,you might want to keep it aside because you will probably find more,put that in your mercury vial and keep your "clean",gold seperatly.Once you get a good amount there are several options,all of which are dangerous!!!Mercury in itself isnt that bad as far as handling in and such although I dont recommend it.But when you heat it ,or use nitric acid which you will have to do to remove it vapors will be released and if you breath those vapors it will kill you and it isnt a pleasant way to go.Nitric acid is what I use but good luck getting it!!A retort is probably the safest technique and one can be purchased.As far as the potato method I guess it works.....it never has for me.

naw i was just kidding...aa and yes be carefull

 

[kuger]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

you guys know a lot more than i do about mercury but i do know it can be dangerous. I use the potato method in da fire

Well we will just let you take the board over then huh!!Thanks for posting all the other methods of mercury removal as well....not!

 

[aa battery]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

you guys know a lot more than i do about mercury but i do know it can be dangerous. I use the potato method in da fire

Well we will just let you take the board over then huh!!Thanks for posting all the other methods of mercury removal as well....not!

dont worry i dont come in here to often.Dont want to hurt anyones ego

 

[kuger]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Yea I think someone has an ego all right!! Last time I checked the boards were about multiple input!Do you think your post was truly informational??As I said the potato method doesnt work for me

 

[aa battery]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

Yea I think someone has an ego all right!! Last time I checked the boards were about multiple input!Do you think your post was truly informational??As I said the potato method doesnt work for me

ok i will give ya that one probably wasnt the best thing to say. As far as ego i have fun on this site nothing is meant to hurt anyone happy hunting

 

[kuger]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

I agree!You didnt hurt my feelings,this place is to learn and to pass on your experience and WE can all learn from each other

 

[truckinbutch]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

you guys know a lot more than i do about mercury but i do know it can be dangerous. I use the potato method in da fire

You and Kruger; When I posted the potato method on another thread months ago it was deleted by the mods.
Does work,don't sit by the fire.
Both of you urinate equally well , no need for a contest.

 

[kuger]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

you guys know a lot more than i do about mercury but i do know it can be dangerous. I use the potato method in da fire

You and Kruger; When I posted the potato method on another thread months ago it was deleted by the mods.
Does work,don't sit by the fire.
Both of you urinate equally well , no need for a contest.

Thanks Butch!! I would like to see the Potato method work

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

HI AA & Truckin, Yes the potato trick does work, you pan the remains of the potato afterwards to recover the mercury. Incidentally, you wrap the potato with wire to keep it together.

An alternative, used in open air during the depression, was is to just put the mercury on a shovel blade, then slide the shovel blade into the fire - always keeping up wind for obvious reasons.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[bigfish31]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

BIGFISH-- great to see some more of your gold!!! the top vial is gold with mercury on it? john

Yep! You have to seperate it right away or it covers all your nuggets!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

HI side thingie, Mercury is always giving off fumes. In fact this is a normal; way of detecting mercury ores. You place a a plate coated with ultraviolet sensitive materiel vertically, then place the suspected sample in front of the screen. Turn on your ultra violet lamp and you can see if Mercury fumes are rising since they will block the UV light. You will see grey or blackish smoke like shadows rising on the coated plate..

Why is everyone so cotton pickin afraid of Mercury? I have handled it extensively, and most of our streams and lakes carry significant amounts of it. This includes the aquatic life. I have bottles of it in my house from our mercury mine. None of the miners have had any problems??

In it's metallic form, it isn't particularly dangerous. If it were, most of you would not be here, since at least in my generation, we loved to coat pennies with mercury, etc. Only the LORD knows how much we must have ingested.

Yes I am fully aware of it's cumulative effects, since I did assaying for a bit in my checkered career, but most effected assayers were from vaporized Mercury, not the metallic form...

Don Jose de La Mancha

p.s. I repeat, the potato method does work, but you must wire the potato together or simply open a plug, insert the amalgam, replace the plug and put it into the fire or coals.

 

[goldmadness14]

Re: My gold's sticking to other meatalic substance found in creek.,..why?

HI side thingie, Mercury is always giving off fumes. In fact this is a normal; way of detecting mercury ores. You place a a plate coated with ultraviolet sensitive materiel vertically, then place the suspected sample in front of the screen. Turn on your ultra violet lamp and you can see if Mercury fumes are rising since they will block the UV light. You will see grey or blackish smoke like shadows rising on the coated plate..

Why is everyone so cotton pickin afraid of Mercury? I have handled it extensively, and most of our streams and lakes carry significant amounts of it. This includes the aquatic life. I have bottles of it in my house from our mercury mine. None of the miners have had any problems??

In it's metallic form, it isn't particularly dangerous. If it were, most of you would not be here, since at least in my generation, we loved to coat pennies with mercury, etc. Only the LORD knows how much we must have ingested.

Yes I am fully aware of it's cumulative effects, since I did assaying for a bit in my checkered career, but most effected assayers were from vaporized Mercury, not the metallic form...

Don Jose de La Mancha

p.s. I repeat, the potato method does work, but you must wire the potato together or simply open a plug, insert the amalgam, replace the plug and put it into the fire or coals.

I am with you man I put that sh*t on my eggs.