mercury

spawn00x · Feb 7, 2009

Hi, I was wondering if gold that has been covered in mercury would have a tendancy to be lighter when panned? Thank You

gametalman52 · Feb 7, 2009

It has been my experience that it will be right at the bottom of the pan whether covered with mercury or not. Just keep the gold that is not covered away from the covered as it will all be covered with the mercury.

spawn00x · Feb 7, 2009

Thanks, Ive been finding this white looking material in my pan that acts like gold but is not as heavy.

bigfish31 · Feb 7, 2009

could be oxidised lead. That looks whitish.

Hoser John · Feb 8, 2009

called Leaverite--as in leave'r right there-John :thumbsup:

gametalman52 · Feb 9, 2009

If you pan it right the lead will be right with the gold.

kuger · Feb 17, 2009

No,the gold is still gold.Mercury is heavy too.Once you see it you cant mistake it.I thought I had a better picture(I should %60 of the gold I find has mercury on it)but you can see it in the bottom vial.Bigfish has a good picture of some.

arizonaames · Feb 18, 2009

Kuger is right, especially in NV. The Carson river is full of mercury (from the old Dayton mines) and if you sluice in it, your sluice box will be covered in it. The mercury will dissapear (evaporate) with a little heat. Do it outside or use a retort.....jim

kuger · Feb 18, 2009

Yes most water ways in gold country is loaded with it.I have some interesting stories about the Carson River and the Gov.,but I wont get into that.ITs rhetorical but I do not recommend putting any kind of heat or using Nitric acid on Mercury unless you absolutely know what you are doing......it kills

bigfish31 · Feb 21, 2009

The stuff is everywhere.

rmptr · Feb 21, 2009

To me, Bigfish's looks more like lead shards than Kugers...

I'd wash it in a bit of dilute nitric acid to see if it reacts.

Sure, as Kuger says, it's all toxic when you go messin with it..

Stayin in the cold water to get more will get you arthritis, too!

I've also had gray slivers in samples I'd taken down in southern California after running through a small ball mill.
Nitric wouldn't touch it. The sample was poor for Au so we didn't pursue further testing, but all we could think was that it might be some free platinum. I dunno...

bigfish31 · Feb 22, 2009

It does look like lead when the coating is thin. I accidentally added some contaminated material to my smaller nuggets and it spread over some of it. One piece is half covered. I am familliar with it's characteristics.