Mercury was used in ancient times to extract gold, does anyone still use it today?
Sure but only in a controlled environment, never out in the field.
Also at $80/pound, and with the environmental concerns, and safety concerns, it’s obvious why any use has to be closed loop. No waste, full recovery of the mercury for reuse.
You do know mercury has its limits... below a certain mesh it won't catch gold and if the gold has any kind of coating it won't amalgamate.
There are good mats and equipment now that do an excellent job of catching fine gold........ No mercury used for any of this.
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In your case, I think the cyanide process would work wellI would like to see some additional info on those claims.... I have been looking for some stats on the efficiency of amalgamation.
I just don't see it being worth the effort and expense for the small amount of returns your going to get .
So I will just stick with my present system and be happy with about 95%..... I have screens from 20 mesh down to -325 mesh.
I have captured -325... it is so small unless you have a good loupe or you brush it into a pile - so to speak - you can't see it with the naked eye.
Here are some pics of beach concentrates in the various screens the last pic in the red tray is -325.
As you can see most of the beach gold I deal with is in the -100 to +200 mesh range.
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True, but the ease and efficiency are tempting. Your apparent efficiency is quite impressive.Cyanide processes are used in much larger operations than I am dealing with ....
I am just a lowly part time beach miner..
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In my case what I use works really well for me.
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This is a clean up of a friend of mines beach cons that he had saved from a few outings....
There was over 2 oz. in this cleanup in case you're curious.
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But yea for what your doing Screens and cube are really the way to go. But, I bet you would be surprised what may be left in your tailings that mercury would get.
I will never know. Beach mining in Oregon is a big enough joke with their BS regs...
Can't even imagine the **** stain they would make down their trouser legs if mercury were used on a beach.....LOL