Mercury Use and Recovering Gold from Amalgam information and questions

[Golden Tiger]

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Hey all,

This stuff has become the bane of my existence. While out panning recently, I found some gold :lol: Great I hear you say. Well it would have been had i not continued panning. In the next few pans I found a piece of Gold with a bit of silver on it. Then in the next pan again, another bit of gold with silver on it. Not giving it much thought at the time I collected all my gold and put it in a jar.

Now, by the time I got home and pulled out my gold to admire my days takings I was now looking at more silver than gold. Yep you guessed it, the Mercury had taken a liking to my gold.

My question is have many other people experienced this ?

And,

Is there a safe way to remove the Mercury from the gold?

Cheers

 

[Ozjono]

A lot off the gold I get has mercury on it ,it will only be a thin layer I have a little map gas torch the I heat it up for about 2 seconds and it just burns of , I do this out side so I don't breath in the fumes

 

[backcreek]

 

[backcreek]

here's another one.
http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/mercury_retort.pdf

Cheers
Mick

 

[XIV]

A lot off the gold I get has mercury on it ,it will only be a thin layer I have a little map gas torch the I heat it up for about 2 seconds and it just burns of , I do this out side so I don't breath in the fumes

sorry mate but this should not be done!!!!
MERCURY is very dangerous and doing the above can cause poisoning, if not to you to someone down wind!!

mercury will start to vaporize at room temperature, and if you have gold coated in mercury in a bottle and, as you say, it has transferred to the rest of your gold that is in the bottle. Opening the bottle will allow vapor to be released and inhaled!!

keep all MERCURY COATED GOLD in water to prevent vaporization

Great vids there Mick

 

[farmeroz]

How many places do you find mercury on gold?
I think I saw on the google map with the gold locations some spots that might have had the mercury symbol with it as well. I didnt realise you can find it actually on the gold.

I would proberly just keep the mercury on the gold in a separate bottle for show. Kind of cool I think.

Good to add to the collection of minerals and rocks

A long time ago in science at school the teacher walked around the class with some mercury rolling around on a piece of paper to show us, probelry wasnt a good thing to do lol but was interesting.

 

[Ozjono]

Well just thinking if the gold that you get out of a stream or ground has mercury on it ,it means the dirt or gravel it is coming from is contaminated so you will be getting skin contact with it. And I believe it can be absorbed though the skin ,so are we getting poisoned panning or digging in these areas where there is mercury on the gold. One place I go I some times get a ball or two of mercury in my pan so there must be a lot there. Any one know if this is right can it be poisoning you

 

[Guest]

You will find mercury on gold in a lot of spots the old timers worked. They were "as mad as hatters" them old timers & loved using mercury :lol:
Some spots would be worse than others but it would have had fairly widespread use back in the day - they used it for "tinning" i.e. they would put mercury in the pan with any gold too fine to collect to create an amalgam then they would use various methods to burn off the mercury & collect the gold. Some used potatoes to absorb the mercury but I don't know a great deal about it. Prefer to steer clear of backyard science experiments with toxic substances especially with an inquisitive young child at home.
Some very good advice:

A lot off the gold I get has mercury on it ,it will only be a thin layer I have a little map gas torch the I heat it up for about 2 seconds and it just burns of , I do this out side so I don't breath in the fumes

sorry mate but this should not be done!!!!
MERCURY is very dangerous and doing the above can cause poisoning, if not to you to someone down wind!!

mercury will start to vaporize at room temperature, and if you have gold coated in mercury in a bottle and, as you say, it has transferred to the rest of your gold that is in the bottle. Opening the bottle will allow vapor to be released and inhaled!!

keep all MERCURY COATED GOLD in water to prevent vaporization

Great vids there Mick

 

[XIV]

this is a great read for those that wish to play with mercury

http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t7820-mercurya-tool-of-the-prospector#71696

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Have not come across any nor heard about any mercury with gold up here. that does not mean it is not here, just means I have not heard of it from both novice and experienced gold prospectors. I will ask George next time at the Miners Den, he would know.

 

[Guest]

Well just thinking if the gold that you get out of a stream or ground has mercury on it ,it means the dirt or gravel it is coming from is contaminated so you will be getting skin contact with it. And I believe it can be absorbed though the skin ,so are we getting poisoned panning or digging in these areas where there is mercury on the gold. One place I go I some times get a ball or two of mercury in my pan so there must be a lot there. Any one know if this is right can it be poisoning you

From what I have read, & I am no expert, mercury is primarily hazardous due to the vapour it can give off. Inhalation of these vapours is the thing to worry about - skin absorption can cause poisoning but it takes a fairly large amount & prolonged exposure I believe. The common sense approach needs to be followed i.e. don't handle it for too long if you do have to; wear gloves before handling; put it into jar/vial of water; thoroughly wash hands after handling; wash hands after working in any suspected contaminated water\dirt etc. especially before eating, smoking etc.
Much the same for cleaning up broken CFL bulbs.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

I read a book called Prospecting for Gold by Ion Idreiss (spelling), great book on prospecting first published in the 50's I think, get your hands on a copy if you can find it. In the book he mentions the use of mercury as an amalgam and how to separate the two..

He describes placing the amalgamated gold and mercury in a piece of fine cloth, creating a bulb of the cloth with the amalgam and then twisting the cloth to tighten the cloth, there by squeezing the mercury from the gold into a jar for re use.

If you did this underwater with gloves on you would lessen the risk, also if you are suing it, get a suitable breathing mask, a carbon filter one might be ok but buy from a reputable safety product vendor please.

Cheers, Tone

 

[Ozjono]

I think you are overly worried about burning mercury off your gold just don't breath in the fumes do it out side make sure the breeze is blowing from behind you, your best to get rid off it and not store it in your house, the mercury that is on you gold is less then a thou thick ,so burning it of isn't going to put much mercury fumes in to the air it will just dissipate in to the atmosphere , a standard fluro bulb has about 5 milligrams of mercury in it so make sure you don't break one or you will have to get the hazmat suit out or even drive past a power plant were they burn coal

 

[Diggerdude]

I agree ozjono, the mercury on gold is generally very minimal and your better of getting rid of it than trying to store it.
Most people I know stick it in a metal pan and sit it on the fire for five minutes, obviously don't stick your head over it and inhale , just use common sense.
if you have lots of it, a retort is a safe way to separate it, they are reasonably cheap on eBay etc.

DD

 

[Guest]

Ozjono no one was saying anything about wearing a hazmat suit just using common sense. To put it into perspective you could eat some mercury or roll it around in your hands with little or possibly no effect. Breathing a small amount of vapour/fumes can affect the central nervous system, kidneys, liver, lungs etc. & is far more hazardous.
If commonsense to you is wearing a hazmat suit & not driving past a coal fired power station??? then so be it but when a CFL breaks in my house I will use the recommended commonsense clean up process of ventilating the room, sweep up not vacuuming, wearing rubber gloves, wiping the area down with a damp cloth & disposing of everything in a sealed plastic bag regardless of the amount in them & the low probability of exposure. There must be something to it, they even recommend ventilating the room for 30mins to dissipate any vapours even though it is in elemental metallic form & relatively low risk at that amount. (probably all overkill I know)
I still won't be burning any off out the back yard either - not in suburbia anyways. Use a retort - I'd probably do that though.

 

[shivan]

Not sure if it has been said, but if you do keep mercury covered gold, keep it covered in water as the mercury will vaporise at room temp and the water will stop this

Personally i do not think small amonts of flour gold cooked off outside would have a huge environmental impact, but if you are looking at over a gram i would definatly look into a retort. Reeds WA and ebay were the best places to buy, but there are simple DIY versions (like the one Backcreek posted) if you are handy.

Oh also, i have found if you do have a blob of amalgam, suction tweezers work quiet well for getting off excess mercury rather than having to squeeze through a shammy or cloth (i try not to handle at all).

 

[ET Digger]

Don't touch that stuff!!! Bad news for your health...
But if you must, please wear appropriate PPE to protect yourself from harm...

Mercury is a neurotoxin always have a barrier between it and yourself

 

[Golden Tiger]

Thank you all for your help. I'll keep the gold and Mercury in the water.

 

[MaxGreenman]

Restricted hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods use or discussion isn't endorsed by Forum Management. Individuals using any hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods do so at their own risk/s and need to ensure their own legislative compliance.

well i was out panning and got 1 or 2 nice flakes if gold but i also got a few bits that look like lead. i kept the gold and lead seperate. now my gold is looking grey. i had a go at melting the lead with a soldering iron, only a tiny amount melted. could it be mercury covered gold? can i get excited? if so what way can i lose the mercury without killing myself and te neighbourhood? i dont have acsess to nitric acid and burning it kinda freaks me out if it is mercury. just on a side note my grandfather had a jam jar of mercury and when we were good he would tip it on the carpet and let us gather it up. wondering if he really loved us. or wanted us gone... hmmmm
thanks in advance

 

[Village]

well i was out panning and got 1 or 2 nice flakes if gold but i also got a few bits that look like lead. i kept the gold and lead seperate. now my gold is looking grey. i had a go at melting the lead with a soldering iron, only a tiny amount melted. could it be mercury covered gold? can i get excited? if so what way can i lose the mercury without killing myself and te neighbourhood? i dont have acsess to nitric acid and burning it kinda freaks me out if it is mercury. just on a side note my grandfather had a jam jar of mercury and when we were good he would tip it on the carpet and let us gather it up. wondering if he really loved us. or wanted us gone... hmmmm
thanks in advance

Hi Max

Generally mercury and gold combine, this is amalgam, like sort of spongy like. Don t heat what you have, it takes over 700c to start a retort process, and what's worst is unless you do it in a controlled environment the mercury will release vapors, heavy metal vapors, and that is definitely not good for you.

Not sure nitric acid will do it for you. We use anpros for chemicals, I think they would carry it, check them on line, just add a com.au.

Good luck