Mercury Problem

[jmy74]

So sorry if this has been covered but i couldnt find what i was looking for. We got into a new hole with decent gold and as we put it through the clean up sluice we could see the gold piling up as it should. We would then put the cons into a pan and poof the gold was gone. But what we did find was mercury sloshing around in the pan. I am thinking that the mercury is swallowing up all of our gold. So my question is how the hell do i safely recover all of my gold from this devil called mercury? If i use a respirator made for mercury vapor in a well ventilated area is it safe to burn off the mercury with a torch? thanks for the help!

 

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[diverrick]

Get a retort or if you live near me you can borrow mine. Any other way is not friendly to the environment or to you and we all know how important that is to some. A retort allows you to reclaim not only the gold but the mercury in a safe manner.

 

[KevinInColorado]

...then you can reuse the merc too [emoji106][emoji106]

 

[agolddigger]

In general I'd say just put it in a separate vial so it does not contaminate your other gold finds. Any time you find mercury gold just toss it into there (and always keep coated w/ a layer of water so no vapors will collect). When you get enough to make it worth the effort either find somebody with a retort or see if anyone in your local prospecting club is comfortable using nitric acid.

If you're comfortable with chemistry it's possible to use nitric acid which dissolves mercury but not gold. The intermediate byproduct (mercuric nitrate) is very dangerous so I do not recommend you go this route. If you find somebody that knows what they are doing it possible to recover both the mercury (for reuse) + gold safely however.

 

[Ragnor]

Nitric acid works, retort works (as mentioned) You can also use a chamois cloth and ring the mercury through it to give you a button of amalgam. Another method I read was to pack a syringe with cotton or other fine cloth and use the plunger to push the mercury out of the amalgam. You can just burn it off and stay up wind and hold your breath, I did that many years ago and I have always regretted having lost that mercury as it is a valuable commodity when used correctly. I agree that a retort process in one form or another is the best method of recovery and separation.

Here is a video you might find interesting

 

[russau]

When you burn off the mercury ,the vapors will condense and drop back to the ground and contaminate the land ! IF your not at ease with using the retort , get someone to do it for you safely!

 

[Duckshot]

Think I read someplace that the old timers used the chamois bag Rangor mentions. Once they squeezed most of the mercury out the gold, they would roll the mercury in their next pan, put the gold and mercury in the chamois bag, and squeeze the mercury out to reuse. Don't need a retort until you can't squeeze anymore mercury out of gold containing chamois bag.

Never used the stuff myself.

 

[mytimetoshine]

campfire and potato

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[jmy74]

Thanks for all the help. I think I will just keep collecting it all for now and when I get enough I will find a retort or someone that has one and go that route.