questions, maybe some answers?

[Laz7777]

my buyer is getting greedy.
for 7 years I've brought him gold that is slightly tainted with mercury...as in trace. my gold is clean, no black sand or extraneous matter, you couldn't get a grain out of the 4.5 .ozt in my pocket now.
but I do get discoloration.
this has always been no problem, up until now.
as of the new year, if I don't have my gold nice and shiny, I get a 10% hit!.

here's the kicker: he's saying I need to use nitric. the only shop in town carrrying it just happens to be his buddy down the road, and he admitted to me that he helped his buddy buy it.
I says the ****er is getting a kickback or two. I'd say this is what we'd call a "conflict of interest".

is there any other way of removing a trace of merc?
thought about a propane torch, any other suggestions?

 

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[arizau]

my buyer is getting greedy.
for 7 years I've brought him gold that is slightly tainted with mercury...as in trace. my gold is clean, no black sand or extraneous matter, you couldn't get a grain out of the 4.5 .ozt in my pocket now.
but I do get discoloration.
this has always been no problem, up until now.
as of the new year, if I don't have my gold nice and shiny, I get a 10% hit!.

here's the kicker: he's saying I need to use nitric. the only shop in town carrrying it just happens to be his buddy down the road, and he admitted to me that he helped his buddy buy it.
I says the ****er is getting a kickback or two. I'd say this is what we'd call a "conflict of interest".

is there any other way of removing a trace of merc?
thought about a propane torch, any other suggestions?

It is not politically correct to say this but I will offer it anyway. Bake it in a pan on the bbq grill. 675 F is the magic temperature. Now I will crawl back in my Neanderthal cave.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

It is not politically correct to say this but I will offer it anyway. Bake it in a pan on the bbq grill. 675 F is the magic temperature. Now I will crawl back in my Neanderthal cave.

Hope your not grilling a steak tonight

 

[RTD-Tech]

Find a new buyer? I hear the folks that create paydirt look for "natural" gold.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Dont need nothing but air to dry mercury. It's only stable in water. Set your pan in the sun and leave it for awhile, super easy. Your gold will remain mercury colored.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Show us a picture and disclose your normal price. Maybe he’s already greedy and getting worse?
Gold spot prices awful low right now in my opinion.

As an experiment, place some contaminated gold in a metal spoon. Heat the bottom of the spoon with a torch.
The mercury will burn off...do it with a fan blowing the fumes away. They are deadly, so do this at your own risk. Otherwise buy a retort.

Rinse in jewelry cleaner and keep it away from your other gold and any used containers.
Should be (unnaturally) nice and shiny.

 

[1637]

is the nitric more or less than the 10%,and there are other buyers,
brad

 

[Clay Diggins]

The mercury contaminates the gold it comes in contact with. It is a storage and refining issue for the buyer.

Nitric acid isn't an ideal "cleaner" but it will put the mercury into solution. The buyer will get gold of a higher purity.

Soaking your gold in warm Nitric acid isn't all that expensive but you will lose volume and have some appearance issues on the larger pieces. You can get nitric for about $60 for 2.5 Litres (2/3 gallon) plus $33 hazmat shipping fee. Make sure you avoid the high strength (70% +) "fuming" nitric acid. 50 or 60 percent solution is good enough for cleaning gold and it's safer to work with.

Maybe the buyer would be willing to up their price above what they were paying you previously if you clean your gold with nitric? It's either that, take the price hit or find another buyer.

Heavy Pans

 

[winners58]

If it's just slightly stained might use a dedicated stainless steel pot,
heat up over a propane cook stove away from camp and creek
shake to not clump together, if it gets over heated/ brownish
soak overnight in white vinegar, for a lot of mercury build a retort.

 

[Laz7777]

thanks for all the answers.
I currently get 80% of spot, my buyer will give only 70% if the gold isn't pretty.
I roast my gold over a small twig fire on the river and get rid of nearly all the merc, but a trace (his xrf doesn't see it) is left.
he has a friend who has opened up a mining supply store, who is in partners with him to sell nitric. this guy is a ripoff...think like $6 for a vial, 250 for a no name sluice and you'll get what I'm saying.
anyhow, I'm just going to buy a propane torch and make it pretty foor him, he won't know the difference.

 

[Duckshot]

If you get caught by the state releasing mercury vapor they will tar and feather you.

If you use some kind of retort it will protect you from harmful vapors as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort

 

[Laz7777]

duck....my gold has only a thin patina of merc.
the vast majority has already been gassed off.
and where I work, ai't nobody around.

 

[et1955]

Any of you guys ever use the bake potato method, cut a potato in half then hollow out an area for the merc gold, then put it back together and wrap it in foil and throw it onto a campfire. The mercury vaporizes into the potato and leaves clean gold, later you can pan out the potato to retrieve the mercury.

 

[RTD-Tech]

Or feed the potato to someone you don't like...?

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

duck....my gold has only a thin patina of merc.
the vast majority has already been gassed off.
and where I work, ai't nobody around.

nobody is all here and at NSA checking their servers through which ALL digital transmissions go through and get recorded. If they wanted you they have you already.

 

[bug]

after the roast it, shake in salt and vinegar solution. That works good on the bigger stuff and looks like eye candy when your done.

 

[et1955]

after the roast it, shake in salt and vinegar solution. That works good on the bigger stuff and looks like eye candy when your done.

Great Info, thanks

 

[Bonaro]

Any of you guys ever use the bake potato method, cut a potato in half then hollow out an area for the merc gold, then put it back together and wrap it in foil and throw it onto a campfire. The mercury vaporizes into the potato and leaves clean gold, later you can pan out the potato to retrieve the mercury.

The potato bullshit is an example of what you should never do.
The pioneer miners used this method because that was the best technology they had a century ago. We are modern miners and have plenty of cheap and easy ways to remove HG that wont result in an accidental poisoning or hazmat cleanup.
Learn how to use Nitric or buy a retort. If you cant manage to do it responsibly then do us all a favor and find a new pastime.

 

[Goldwasher]

shoot I don't even bother using a potato.

cast iron mini baking pan... fire.. come back next morning yellow gold

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Price of gold is for pure gold. Other than that it is based on purity as a percentage of the pure price MINUS the cost to clean it up.

The question is would it cost (time trouble, expenses) you more than your sale differential to clean it up yourself?