# Using mercury for Gold recovery



## jojothebarbarian

I need to know, is there a process that you have to do to 'activate' the mercury to use it? I have mercury and what is flake gold, and it is not absorbing as I am told. I would look on the site, but I am new to everything but the safety on it. Any takes? thanks!


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## niteliteone

jojothebarbarian said:


> I would look on the site, but I am new to everything but the safety on it. Any takes? thanks!



would love to help, but I really need to take my dog for a walk :twisted:


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## slickdogg

jojothebarbarian said:


> I need to know, is there a process that you have to do to 'activate' the mercury to use it?



This ought to be intresting..... I'm gonna need a bag of popcorn. :lol: :lol:


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## shaftsinkerawc

Pretty light on the information of what you are trying to do! Why would you want to mix (poisonous)mercury with your gold?


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## jojothebarbarian

Okay, what is the process of activating mercury to recover gold?

i'm trying to recover the gold that i have just 'floating around', such as flake 24k and some from creeks and such


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## slickdogg

jojothebarbarian 
why are you trying to use mercury???
There are much safer ways to recover!


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## jimmydolittle

Try this instead of mercury: http://www.nextstepmining.com/store.html


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## jojothebarbarian

ummm i have these things, and flake gold...could someone please just tell me the process?


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## shaftsinkerawc

What are "these things"? Where did they come from?
Where did your mercury come from? How dirty is it and what is the contaminate?
How processed are your placer concentrates? What did you use to recover what you have?


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## Photobacterium

jojothebarbarian said:


> ummm i have these things, and flake gold...could someone please just tell me the process?



there is a good video about a small Australian gold mining operation on Youtube. they use Amalgam (mercury). they show almost everything in the video, crushing the rocks, mixing the powdered rock with the mercury, evaporating & distilling the mercury, recovering the gold, melting & casting the gold.


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## Geo

jojo, 

its not that the members are trying to give you the run around, its just the fact that use of mercury in gold recovery is regulated and in many places illegal.


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## philddreamer

Jojo, some one onces said: "there's more than one way to skin a cat"!
Well, there's also more than one way to recover &/or refine your gold. Mercury is one of the most hazardous of them all. The old prospectors used the mercury to "capture" the fine gold, then they had to heat it. This produces very toxic fumes that WILL kill you. Many of the old timers didn't get to enjoy their gold. 
I highly recommend that you first do some reading thru the forum & learn to do it the safe way.

Take care & be safe!

Phil


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## butcher

It worked they plated distilled mercury onto copper plates to recover fine gold, 200 years ago, but it also polluted our rivers, today there is no need at all for mercury in recovery of gold, we have so many better methods nowadays easily available to us, and safe to use.


I will step on the limb here and tell you if you cannot pan the gold in the river, either you need to learn to pan or it is not gold, but fools gold, I can pan gold so fine I can barely even see it, gold is heavy and will go to the bottom of the pan and stay there as I pour of all the other rock and sand, here is a way to test if the flakes you see are gold, and if you know how to pan for gold. 

Get three small pieces of lead smaller than a BB, or the tip of a pencil, fill your pan with handfuls of rock gravel and sand, throw in the three tinny pieces of lead, stir them into the pan, now pan this into large tub, when done all you should have in the pan is the three pieces of lead and some black sand (and any gold if there was any in the sand, if you lost your lead, you need to keep practicing until you learn to pan and can keep your lead in the pan and never loose it, the lad is much lighter than the gold.

fools gold pyrite will float around in the pan, normally gold will not float although a very small amount can if you have oils in your pan, a drop of dawn dish soap will stop that if it is a problem, but I will say that is most likely not the problem you see.

forget trying to use mercury, as you can most likely tell by the reaction here your question received, it is not a good idea, forget anything you heard about squeezing through chamois leather, and cooking it out the gold in a potato very foolish indeed, a potato is not safe, a retort is what they should have used, but not too many miners are that smart. 
Forget mercury if you already knew about this you would have never asked the question in the first place.

we can discuss some other more modern methods of recovery of fine gold is you wish, but I will not help someone kill themselves or others with mercury. There is just no reason for it in recovery or refining of gold.


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## jojothebarbarian

butcher said:


> It worked they plated distilled mercury onto copper plates to recover fine gold, 200 years ago, but it also polluted our rivers, today there is no need at all for mercury in recovery of gold, we have so many better methods nowadays easily available to us, and safe to use.
> 
> 
> I will step on the limb here and tell you if you cannot pan the gold in the river, either you need to learn to pan or it is not gold, but fools gold, I can pan gold so fine I can barely even see it, gold is heavy and will go to the bottom of the pan and stay there as I pour of all the other rock and sand, here is a way to test if the flakes you see are gold, and if you know how to pan for gold.
> 
> Get three small pieces of lead smaller than a BB, or the tip of a pencil, fill your pan with handfuls of rock gravel and sand, throw in the three tinny pieces of lead, stir them into the pan, now pan this into large tub, when done all you should have in the pan is the three pieces of lead and some black sand (and any gold if there was any in the sand, if you lost your lead, you need to keep practicing until you learn to pan and can keep your lead in the pan and never loose it, the lad is much lighter than the gold.
> 
> fools gold pyrite will float around in the pan, normally gold will not float although a very small amount can if you have oils in your pan, a drop of dawn dish soap will stop that if it is a problem, but I will say that is most likely not the problem you see.
> 
> forget trying to use mercury, as you can most likely tell by the reaction here your question received, it is not a good idea, forget anything you heard about squeezing through chamois leather, and cooking it out the gold in a potato very foolish indeed, a potato is not safe, a retort is what they should have used, but not too many miners are that smart.
> Forget mercury if you already knew about this you would have never asked the question in the first place.
> 
> we can discuss some other more modern methods of recovery of fine gold is you wish, but I will not help someone kill themselves or others with mercury. There is just no reason for it in recovery or refining of gold.





some is 24k gold flake, i want to collect, supposedly the mercury is going to suck it up, turn it into itself basically, and my mercury does not have that effect, how can i get it?






shaftsinkerawc said:


> What are "these things"? Where did they come from?
> Where did your mercury come from? How dirty is it and what is the contaminate?
> How processed are your placer concentrates? What did you use to recover what you have?



comes from the hospital, these things are gold blue bowl stuff with screens *although i have the smallest darn screens*
and they are claybound, washed cleaned, etc etc to basically hematite/magnetite/powder gold
i used gravity and the concentrates i havent got but so many to a finer state, so i would say all are still pretty heavy with trash....

i'm just wondering how to charge my mercury


I have many glass jars and open air around, no answers to charge it and see if/how the deal works (without using mass portions or putting it on the ground or in the air where not needed)


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## Geo

doesn't seem to be anyway to change your mind.there's nothing wrong with the mercury,either its mercury or it isn't.you cant charge it up.the problem is with the gold(if its gold) there's a couple of different reasons mercury will not stick to gold.one reason is the gold is dirty.during the concentrating did you or anyone else put soap on it or oil.here's a couple of fixes.incinerate the material to a dull red heat and keep it there for about an hour stirring the material occasionally and then let it cool.another is to mill it,this also helps breaking the small bits of black sands off the small flakes.if this is placer gold and its been in the water a long time in an area that has alot of foliage, the gold could have a fine layer of tree sap covering it or other organic material and any of this will stop mercury from sticking to it,soap,oil,resin or tree sap.


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## shaftsinkerawc

I recommend you do not incinerate any material you have already contaminated with mercury unless you have an appropriate retort and know how to use it safely.

Are you saying that your 24k is recovered from hospital equip? How did you recover it?


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## Photobacterium

Geo said:


> jojo,
> 
> its not that the members are trying to give you the run around, its just the fact that use of mercury in gold recovery is regulated and in many places illegal.



and those are the 'good' points !

mercury usage is a part of the fascinating history of gold mining.

When people want to step right into one of the more dangerous processes, it reminds me of surfing. People paddle out at Pipeline in Hawaii, or Maverick's in California, and are unaware of the severity of the thrashing that comes with the territory.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/near-death-at-pipeline_64662/

/\ A news story about a recent near-drowning at Pipeline. A beginner paddled out, thought he could handle it. Over time, my rule of thumb became, if I can't enjoy the wipe-out, I don't surf the location.

But there the metaphor breaks down. There is no way to 'enjoy' a 'wipe-out' in gold-refining. If you make a mistake with mercury, you're DONE.

In the case of this beginner paddling out at big Pipe, about a dozen people were involved in saving his life.

JoJo, the closest anybody here can come to safeguarding your health is the dozen or so warnings re mercury in this thread. Being there to help you fill out a disability form if you acquire a case of mercury poisoning is the closest anybody can come to helping you, after the fact.


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## patnor1011

OP constantly mention flakes... Hope he do not have gold flakes from ebay as there is no gold there. Charging mercury? Never heard of such a thing. The only mercury you can charge is mercury in rechargeable battery. And even then you doi not charge mercury but battery.

Mercury is used to catch fine gold powder like particles, barely visible in naked eye. Not flakes, you can only smear them with mercury which is pointless and just contaminate your gold.


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## niteliteone

jojothebarbarian said:


> some is 24k gold flake, i want to collect, supposedly the mercury is going to suck it up, turn it into itself basically, and my mercury does not have that effect, how can i get it?


Sounds like feebay stuff to me.




> i'm just wondering how to charge my mercury


The only way I know to charge mercury is with a credit card.

Tom C.


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## philddreamer

Mercury that's dirty is "washed" in a diluted acid, thus the outer surface of the mercury is clean & able to produce an almalgam.
The vapors from the mixing of the mercury & "the acid" are EXTREMELY TOXIC!!!

Also keep in mind that mercury also amalgamates with silver, copper & lead, & that you would have to deal with these contaminates, too!

When I was in Jr. High, we had a fellow student that got hold of mercury. Back then, 1962, anyone could buy it at a drug store. So, it was awesome playing with the mercury, & coating the silver coins with it & making them shiny. Some gold rings were "ruined", because they became coated with mercury. Then one day, the warning came to ALL the students to stop playing with mercury IMMIDIATELY! During the weekend, a few students got very ill & one had died of mercury poisoning. 

As far as I'm concerned, I have no use for mercury. 

Take care & be safe!

Phil


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## butcher

I have heard the mining term to charge mercury, dirty mercury can be "charged" or cleaned (distilled) in retort. Sometimes triple distilled.

As we have all said forget the mercury, it is too dangerous, it will not work that great, and there are much better methods.

Give us better description of your gold.

Where the gold it came from.

What treatments has it gone through?

Describe it and how you have proven it to be gold.

We can give you some advice on recover methods if we have some idea of what we are discussing.


From what I understand you are working with fine screened concentrates in black sand (it will not be 24K gold, usually 16 to 18K). It sounds to me you would need a leach, but until we know more details, I will not give advice, because of what you may have up until this point (the advice can be dangerous, if we do not know what you have).

It is very important for you to tell us if this gold has come into contact with your mercury, as suggestions and your safety would depend on these facts.

From what I understand you have mercury that came from a hospital, please put it in good jar with good air tight lid, cover mercury with water(to keep from evaporating into the air), sit this in another plastic tub with lid in a safe place, forget about trying to use mercury to recover for gold. As we said that would be a very bad idea.

Here the mining supply store sells mercury, but I think most people buying it must not know enough about it, to get there gold, or the dangers of this stuff, luckily they also sell retorts, and hopefully they are not poisoning themselves, or driving themselves crazy, (Madd as a Hatter).


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## galenrog

No need to use mercury at all. It is far safer to put all your cons in one place. When you have sufficient quantity, smelt them. You will end up with a pretty yellow button consisting of mostly gold. You might get ahold of Megan Rose on the GPAA forum. She has more knowledge on gold recovery from placer cons than I do.


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## kurt

Actually – yes you can “charge” mercury by adding ether sodium or potassium to it. It becomes like mercury on Viagra in its ability to amalgam with gold. This can be done in an electrolytic cell

However – if you are having a problem with un-charged mercury picking up your gold – charging it is not going to fix the problem because you already have some other problem existing that is preventing the “natural” process of mercury to amalgam with the gold.

Ether your mercury is contaminated, or your gold is contaminated, or both.

Jojo – you now have a “REAL” problem on your hands!!! Why? --- Because you have already tried using mercury on the material you have – therefore you have now contaminated that material with mercury & the “ONLY” safe way to remove the mercury is with a retort – which is something you “NEED” to have anyway if you are going to use mercury to recover gold by way of amalgam process --- & I am betting that you don’t have a retort.

So – what I would suggest – is that you take the material you have – to a professional refiner – tell them about the mercury contamination so they are informed & apply the proper safe process to dealing with the mercury in recovering your gold.

Giving you any other advice (outside of using a retort to deal with the mercury) would be nothing short of telling you how to poison your self with mercury poisoning --- & I am not going to help you with that & I doubt anyone else on this forum will help you poison your self ether. (which is why I am not giving detailed instruction on how to “charge” mercury)

Kurt


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## jojothebarbarian

the mercury is from old hospital equipment....

the gold has been put in nitric acid and is sitting with whatever other metals in water (come from washing PC motherboards with acid)

What other reasons would the gold not stick to it...

It may have soap or oil on it yes, but can I "charge" the mercury and get a better reaction than with just pure mercury rolling around with gold, because I'm seeing no action....


....

I understand the hazards but am just wondering, what activating hazards should I do to start off, the rest is all done by the book, no dumping and washing into water supplies..

There is a reason I still have the mercury, because I know some idiots. Im trying to do it the right way, I just do not know it

At least the beginning..I know how to finish it up and try to save it. Know it requires more $, just do not know how much


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## butcher

jojothebarbarian,

I do not know how to get you to understand.

If you had gold in contact with mercury, your gold is now contaminated, and very dangerous to work with, you will need to have it retorted (distilled), if you have not done this then take it to a professional and have it done.

I will not help with using mercury, it is not needed, it will not work that great, and is far too dangerous (if not done properly).

If your gold is clean of mercury we can help you with methods of recovery and purification.

sorry I am not trying to be difficult, and would like to help, (but I will not help you use mercury).


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## kurt

Jojothebarbarian you wrote – “the gold has been put in nitric acid and is sitting with whatever other metals in water (come from washing PC motherboards with acid)

This is where your problem is - Because you used acid to wash (or strip) your mother boards you created a situation where all the other stuff that your gold is now mixed in with is contaminating the mercury & therefore preventing the mercury from picking up the gold.

When you used the nitric to strip the gold plating from your mother boards the nitric also made a tin paste from the solder & a whole bunch other metals that are now in the form of metal salts &/or oxides.

These things are contaminating your mercury as soon as you put the mercury in with it & because all this other stuff contaminates your mercury as soon as you put it in – it prevents the mercury from picking up the gold.

Charging the mercury IS NOT GOING TO FIX THE PROBLEM (I am not yelling here – just trying to get you to understand that using mercury in this situation is not going to work for you – no matter what you do with the mercury) Charging the mercury is only going to make the mercury better at contaminating it’s self with all this other stuff .

Another words – the problem is not the mercury &/or the gold --- it is the stuff that the gold is mixed with.

The ONLY way you are going to get your gold from this stuff – is to use AR (aqua regia) to dissolve the gold & then ether precipitate the gold back out of solution using SMB or cement it back out of solution using copper

So – now – if you need help with the AR/SMB process --- or the AR/copper cementing process – we can certainly help you with that

Kurt


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## Harold_V

jojothebarbarian said:


> the gold has been put in nitric acid and is sitting with whatever other metals in water (come from washing PC motherboards with acid)


What possible reason can you have to use mercury in this case? What do you expect to accomplish?

Harold

Edit: I get the distinct impression you have been reading too many comic books, and you don't have a clue about refining. Mercury is NOT a refining procedure. At best, it is a recovery procedure, one that is not the least bit necessary for processing escrap. 
Have you read Hoke?


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## patnor1011

He still cant understand one thing. Mercury was used to accumulate gold which is so small that is barely visible with naked eye. Anything bigger will just get coated with mercury - contaminated.


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## turtlesteve

I believe I remember reading that "charging" mercury was using electrolysis to produce a sodium-mercury amalgam (liquid alloy). As a reducing agent the sodium in the mercury would keep the surface of the mercury clean during panning, allowing it to more easily stick to gold particles.

Like just about everyone else here I would recommend not using mercury in the first place.

Steve


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## s2550

Over 50 years ago, my father took me to a place where there was a huge wooden box, filled with dirt, rocks, water and supposedly gold flakes. I remember panning some of it, and was told that my glittery stuff was gold. They put it in a small bottle with mercury. Needless to say, I found the bottle about a month ago and was wondering what to do with it, and found this post. I really don't want to mess with the mercury, so.......how do I get rid of it? Someone, I have no idea who, told me to put all of it in a potato and squeeze the mercury out, and it will leave the gold in the potato. Still, if I did that, what do I do with the mercury? Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.


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## 4metals

When I lived on Long Island, the town I lived in had a STOP Saturday, stop throwing out pollutants. It was once a month and it assured common pollutants were disposed of properly. It was free to residents. 

If you had this service available, the solution is simple. Pour the mercury and gold through a chamois cloth, the gold will remain in the cloth which can be squeezed out to separate most of the mercury from the gold. The gold is not pure but it is separated from the majority of the mercury and you can get an idea of how much you have. Then clearly label the jar with the mercury you just filtered out and place the gloves you wore and the chamois cloth in there and label it mercury contaminated materials. Drop the jar off at the STOP drop off center and let us know how you made out. 

If there is sufficient gold after removing the mercury (I doubt there will be, those panning businesses were set up to make money, not give it to the panners) I'm sure some members can help you get it pure if you so desire.

I think the real purpose of the mercury was to disguise how little actual gold was there and have you think you were actually going home with something of value.


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## s2550

Thank you for your reply, you are probably correct in that there will be little gold in this vial. Will let you know how it turns out when I try the chamois squeeze. Currently having to stay away from my processing endeavors due to a case of pneumonia.


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## syazwan.salleh

Hi Kurt

I'm using spent mercury to collect my near-colloidal gold. How do you charge the mercury using potassium + electrolysis ? what's the elcetrode to be use ? ratio of K and Hg ? amps & mV ? any advice ?

Syazwan


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## jimmydolittle

*What part of "NO" don't you understand!*


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## Geo

mercury is so very poisonous that it will be hard to find someone to help with its use when there are so many other BETTER processes to recover gold.i wish this thread had never been started in a way because at this time when gold is bringing such a high price people seem to be willing to throw safety to the wind (literally).in my opinion this topic is much more dangerous than the other dangerous topic that had divided the forum so fiercely.everyone has heard about the old miners using mercury to get the gold so heres a tip: MERCURY DOESNT WORK TO RECLAIM GOLD FROM ELECTRONIC SCRAP, it was used in mining and prospecting.mercury will not collect gold from electronics.


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## butcher

Thanks Geo, 
very well put, I agree with you 99.999%.

I will go so far as to say mercury for mining gold is also outdated, and no longer needed.

I do not think the forum has been devided over issues of safety, yes we may see some things differently, but we would not be individuals if we did not, I believe all of us are on the same page on the forum, want to get our metals as safely as possible, and help others to get theirs safely, and we all want information to be as free as possible, and for others who may read this forum to use that information intelligently.


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## kurt

Geo, you posted ---"MERCURY DOESNT WORK TO RECLAIM GOLD FROM ELECTRONIC SCRAP"

Actually that’s not true --- but first let me say – IN NO WAY AM I ADVOCATING THE USE OF MERCURY (caps fore emphasis – not yelling) 

Mercury works “very” well for recovering the gold wires from the ash of incinerated IC chips. It works just as good in this case as it works for recovering fine gold from black sands &/or crushed ore. --- That said – the fact remains that using mercury is still a very hazardous method to recover gold. --- If you do not have the proper lab &/or equipment set up – if you are not VERY careful when handling it – if you do not have a FULL knowledge & understanding about working with mercury --- you are IN FACT setting your self, your friends & your neighbors up for VERY SERIOUS health risk including a “very slow & agonizing death” 

YOU WONT EVEN KNOW ITS HAPPENING TO YOU UNTILL ITS TO LATE (again caps used of emphasis – not yelling) let me say that again 

YOU WONT EVEN KNOW ITS HAPPENING TO YOU UNTILL ITS TO LATE

One more thing --- mercury “will not” work for recovering gold foils --- not even if you charge it. There are three reasons for this – I am not going to go into those reasons, I am simply going to say it one more time --- mercury “will not” work for recovering gold foils --- not even if you charge it… (That’s three periods at the end of that sentence) 

Kurt


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## patnor1011

Kurt, 
I do not think that mercury will work well to pick up wires from incinerated ic packages. There is simply too much of small pieces of other metals mixed in lot and most of them are gold plated at least on tip where wire was soldered in. There is no way that mercury will take in gold and not these pieces of metal, it will be smeared on them. I do not think that it is fail safe method for collecting fines. Nitric leach or AR are far better options than introducing mercury. It may work in some degree to collect very fine small particles which can be collected or recovered another way - safer and all of them.


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## kurt

Pat – you are right – it is not as simple as incinerating the chips – crushing them - & putting mercury in the ash to recover the gold wires.

There are steps that “need” to be taken prior to introducing the mercury in order for the mercury to be effective in picking up the wire. – If these step are not taken prior to introducing the mercury you will have poor success at recovering the gold. --- In fact – if not done right – you will end up with ash contaminated with mercury & little or no recovered gold.

Mercury IS NOT the “magic” answer to gold recovery. --- In order for mercury to be effective to amalgam with the gold the conditions need to be ideal.

Contamination is a problem - & contamination can be a problem in any of three places (1) if the mercury is contaminated it will NOT be effective (2) if the gold has a surface contamination it will NOT be effective (3) if the media you are trying to recover the gold from has contaminates (that ether contaminate the mercury &/or the gold) it will NOT be effective.

These things are a matter of FACT with both natural sources (placer concentrates &/or crushed ore concentrates) or gold from electronics. --- In FACT contamination in electronics is a “major” problem. 

So --- my POINT is that – yes – as much as mercury can be used to recover gold --- it IS NOT the “magic” answer to gold recovery & this is especially true with trying to us it to recover gold from electronics --- you actually “create” contaminates in the process of getting the gold to a point that it can be recovered. – Therefore -----

Due to the nasty nature of mercury I will not discuss this further here on the forum. (other then to discourage the use of it)

Kurt

With the idea in mind that we sound as if we actually know what we're talking about, the phrase, above, one does not create "contaminates", but *contaminants*. The *contaminants* contaminate the material. 

Harold


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## minormetals

I saw producing process of virgin mercury. It is relative safe for worker, but it pollute environment badly.


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## butcher

minormetals,

With three posts to your name here on the forum, and all of them to trying to push, or to sell mercury a very dangerous metal (highly regulated), and dangerous for people and the environment.

Mercury really has no use in mining today, or recovery or refining gold.
No use at all.
I discourage any member here from trying to buy sell or use mercury.

I also warn members of the problems they can get into with this metal, with government officials.

I would not put it past government officials to set up a sting on the forum promoting or trying to sell mercury, I had some major trouble with this metal, and had problems with authority's, during that time there were government officials posting on the forum, and on the forum watching our discussions, fishing.


This looks to me you are only here to spam members, or set them up in some type of sting.
I have a good mind to ban you and your posts.

I did delete your other two posts of mercury and trying to sell it.

If you are here to learn proper ways to recover and refine gold (without the use of mercury) then you are welcome to stay, but if your only purpose is to promote the use of and sell mercury, you will not be welcome and will be banned.


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## minormetals

i see. thank you.


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## rich_2137

Sorry to say but it's posts like these that really get me down!! it just proves that people don't have a clue on what there doing and would do them good to research it first, don't get me wrong I don't know everything but reading and learning more each day is making me understand the different processes!!
Just annoying as I sold some items on ebay and then they gave me negative feedback saying "Not good value at all" I carnt help that they bidded what they bid at the end of the day if they had done a little research they would have known the true value of what they were buying!! Idiots!! :twisted:


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## nickvc

I feel there are several processes that raise their heads regulary that really aren't suited to home refiners cyanide and mercury seem the most common, I don't mean any disrespect to our many clever and in many cases brighter than me home refiners but both these need different set ups than many possesss and should be avoided. There are work arounds many developed here on the forum that are much safer and less likely to go tragically wrong which can be used that are fully explained and in depth if people search. Promoting dubious or dangerous processes isn't tolerated and for good reason, the safety of the members, their family, neighbours and the environment.


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## kurtak

nickvc said:


> I feel there are several processes that raise their heads regulary that really aren't suited to home refiners cyanide and mercury seem the most common, I don't mean any disrespect to our many clever and in many cases brighter than me home refiners but both these need different set ups than many possesss and should be avoided. There are work arounds many developed here on the forum that are much safer and less likely to go tragically wrong which can be used that are fully explained and in depth if people search. Promoting dubious or dangerous processes isn't tolerated and for good reason, the safety of the members, their family, neighbours and the environment.



Correct :!: :!: :!: 

Kurt


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## galenrog

While I have not advocated he use of mercury in placer mining for some time, I do encounter it from time to time as both a contaminate in placer gold and others asking what to do with it. While both long and short term dangers related to mercury use can be reduced dramatically using proper procedure and reasonable precautions, I do not advise anyone to even try. If you have mercury contaminating your gold, you have already been offered good advice. If you want to use mercury in the recovery of gold, please reconsider your position.


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## bmgold2

This seems to be one of those topics that just won't go away. People read about the old time gold miners using mercury to get that fine gold that is hard to separate and think that must be a good way to get their gold.

The original poster wanted to know how to "charge" mercury. I have also read about this "magic" way to super charge your mercury. Even if someone here did explain how to do that (I and probably many others could easily explain how to do it), what would that get you? Now, if it actually did collect your gold, your gold would now be locked up in a poisonous substance which would take even more dangerous methods to get it back.

As keeps being pointed out here, there are better ways to do it now. They also involve some dangers but are no more difficult and safer than something that can poison you or others around you just by sitting around. 

You can read stories about people breaking those new spiral fluorescent lights and then having a hazmat team come in to clean up the mess. That was from a tiny amount contained in the new "environmentally friendly" lights. Just think what would happen if it was found out that you were "playing" with ounces or pounds of the stuff. 

I could keep on writing about some of the information I found when I was first trying to get into prospecting and then now refining gold but that would mostly be preaching to the choir. It's mostly the new members that come here looking for the "easy way" to get the gold that need to be warned about the dangers. Nobody here is going to tell anyone how to use mercury because nobody wants to be responsible for someone hurting their self or others.


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## sharkhook

I have read pretty near every post on this huge forum dealing with refining and recovering. So much of it is just great reading and packed with know how from so many of the members it is almost unbelievable. I started looking at both aspects back in the very early 90's and have searched off and on ever since. One of the most common things of all of that research has been the fact that Mercury will kill you, and if not quickly it will kill others around you as well. I believe that is the reason so many of the old timers were searching for better methods than using that stuff. Just in this one thread if you combined all the years of experience among the replies I would bet a wooden nickle it is over 100 years worth of knowledge. On that note, why would anyone even consider messing with that stuff? If you really believe there is no better way, then you have never spent much, if any, time reading this forum. And now I will digress to those with more knowledge on the subject since I have never tried it, and don't see me ever trying it.


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## auone

regarding hg toxicity 
im not trying to cause any problems here . let me just say that first
i can find post after post of people using acid "outside" and no one seems to have a problem with that 
do you really think those fumes just " go away " we are all breathing them , we are all "downwind" any way you look at it 
i know many people here are basically against mercury in general . and i can respect that . it is poison and it seems to affect some people more than others
its an insidious neurotoxin if handled carelessly i get it . i really do 
the thing i dont understand is why is just letting all those fumes blow downwind is somehow accepted , even encouraged 
whenever hg is mentioned here , its like a taboo subject and people that i respect cry out about poisoning the environment
yet those red fumes just bubbling away is acceptable
maybe somebody can educate me
why is one poison accepted and another is shunned
im new here and not trying to make any waves , im just trying to understand


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## butcher

auone,

We often post warnings about dealing with any poisons, even the poisonous fumes, and teach how to deal with them safely and with responsibility, unlike mercury, acids are a necessity in recovery and refining.

Mercury is not needed in recovery or refining of gold, although in recovery there may come a time when you may have to deal with mercury also (dental waste as an example), we also post information and warning on how to deal with these deadly fumes safely also.

If you spend time studying both recovery refining, the forum, and mercury, you will understand the forums point of view on this topic.

You can also talk to your local DEQ (department of environmental quality officer) and ask him his point of view, on you using mercury, as opposed to using acid safely in a recovery process on your property. 

If you wish to discuss it further I will be glad to do so.

Study and educate yourself in safe methods to recover and refine precious metals, educate yourself on why some processes are chosen over others, and why some are just obsolete and or are just too dangerous to use.


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## sharkhook

One of the most common things found is the use a fume hood and scrubber. I ran one batch of fingers without some protection from the fumes. By the time that I saw the process actually worked as stated here on the forum, I built a small scrubber. It isn't a professional thing, but it does work as described. The fumes and odor were gone, as well as some pieces near by stopped rusting quite noticeably. I have plans in the near future for a better setup even though I know it will cost more to build than I am likely to make from refining in quite a long while. Then again, I am a hobbyist at this while a very many are more professionally in it. As a hobby or a profession, safety is job one. All the gold in the world is useless if you can't live long enough to enjoy it.


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## Geo

in nature, the amounts of acidic fumes that we (as hobbyist refiners) release into the atmosphere is less than the smallest fraction of a percent when compared to, OH lets say volcanism. thousands or even millions of tons of SO2 is released by mother nature each year.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2)

The effects of SO2 on people and the environment vary widely depending on (1) the amount of gas a volcano emits into the atmosphere; (2) whether the gas is injected into the troposphere or stratosphere; and (3) the regional or global wind and weather pattern that disperses the gas. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a colorless gas with a pungent odor that irritates skin and the tissues and mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, and throat. Sulfur dioxide chiefly affects upper respiratory tract and bronchi. The World Health Organization recommends a concentration of no greater than 0.5 ppm over 24 hours for maximum exposure. A concentration of 6-12 ppm can cause immediate irritation of the nose and throat; 20 ppm can cause eye irritation; 10,000 ppm will irritate moist skin within minutes.

Emission rates of SO2 from an active volcano range from <20 tonnes/day to >10 million tonnes/day according to the style of volcanic activity and type and volume of magma involved. For example, the large explosive eruption of Mount Pinatubo on 15 June 1991 expelled 3-5 km3 of dacite magma and injected about 20 million metric tons of SO2 into the stratosphere. The sulfur aerosols resulted in a 0.5-0.6°C cooling of the Earth's surface in the Northern Hemisphere. The sulfate aerosols also accelerated chemical reactions that, together with the increased stratospheric chlorine levels from human-made chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) pollution, destroyed ozone and led to some of the lowest ozone levels ever observed in the atmosphere.

At Kilauea Volcano, the recent effusive eruption of about 0.0005 km3/day (500,000 m3) of basalt magma releases about 2,000 tonnes of SO2 into the lower troposphere. Downwind from the vent, acid rain and air pollution is a persistent health problem when the volcano is erupting.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php

Examples of volcanic gas compositions, in volume percent concentrations
(from Symonds et. al., 1994)

Volcano
Tectonic Style
Temperature	Kilauea Summit
Hot Spot
1170°C	Erta` Ale
Divergent Plate
1130°C	Momotombo
Convergent Plate
820°C
H20 37.1 77.2 97.1
C02 48.9 11.3 1.44
S02 11.8 8.34 0.50
H2 0.49 1.39 0.70
CO 1.51 0.44 0.01
H2S 0.04 0.68 0.23
HCl 0.08 0.42 2.89
HF --- --- 0.26


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## butcher

In nature several of these gases are released, volcanoes, forest fires...
Including the toxic mercury fumes, which can circle the world twice before settling.

We have a responsibility for our safety, and the safety of others around us, and for our environment, with this we can work responsibly, to capture (and reuse or make safer) our gases, and treat our waste for safer disposal (or reuse), and work with procedures, and safety practices that leave a low impact on our environment.

Mining is not what it used to be here in the US, and I suspect many places around the world, here very little mining is actually done anymore, or can be done, some of this from bad mining practices, and some from just plain ignorance, it is my belief that we can log, mine and use our natural resources responsibly, but when not done responsibly that is where we do harm to ourselves and our environment, and give rise to regulations regulating us out of the business of using our natural resources, feeding those nuts who would have us not be able to use our resources, and harming us financially...


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## DarkspARCS

Harold_V said:


> jojothebarbarian said:
> 
> 
> 
> the gold has been put in nitric acid and is sitting with whatever other metals in water (come from washing PC motherboards with acid)
> 
> 
> 
> What possible reason can you have to use mercury in this case? What do you expect to accomplish?
> 
> Harold
> 
> Edit: I get the distinct impression you have been reading too many comic books, and you don't have a clue about refining. Mercury is NOT a refining procedure. At best, it is a recovery procedure, one that is not the least bit necessary for processing escrap.
> Have you read Hoke?
Click to expand...


Hi everyone! I know it's been about a year since I posted but I just had to mention this because it's somewhat iconic when I read Harold's comments on issues people have, and his gravity of common sense always gives me this almost biblical sentiment in understanding what he's talking about. The quote I am quoting you on here Harold has you mentioning comic books... which actually had me envisioning you as Optimus Prime from the Transformers, with his Heraldic vocaL intonations giving us Au-to-bots a lesson in Au mechanics. LET'S ROLL!


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## Evan2468WDWA

bmgold2 said:


> You can read stories about people breaking those new spiral fluorescent lights and then having a hazmat team come in to clean up the mess. That was from a tiny amount contained in the new "environmentally friendly" lights. Just think what would happen if it was found out that you were "playing" with ounces or pounds of the stuff.


I broke one of those spiral fluorescent lights and was feeling a bit worried so I did some research. This is one of the things I found. 
https://web.stanford.edu/~bcalhoun/AStock.htm
Mercury is some scary stuff.


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## solar_plasma

Depends on how large the fluorescent light has been. For the small bulb-like ones the German toxins information central says, move the solids out of the house, clean up and ventilate by open windows for some hours and you should not get into trouble. I followed this advice, when my daughter once had broken one by accident and we had no probs.


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## Evan2468WDWA

solar_plasma said:


> Depends on how large the fluorescent light has been. For the small bulb-like ones the German toxins information central says, move the solids out of the house, clean up and ventilate by open windows for some hours and you should not get into trouble. I followed this advice, when my daughter once had broken one by accident and we had no probs.


I'm not too worried about the light bulb anymore. That was a while ago, I cleaned it up properly and there isn't that much mercury in those things. Still the reading I did gave me a health respect for the danger mercury can pose. Using large amount of it for gold recovery doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Edit: Sorry, I guess the way I worded made it sound like it happened recently.


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## Geo

I am 49 years old but I remember well the day our teacher showed us a trick to turn a penny into silver. The mercury came from an old blood pressure pump and seemed to have a gallon of the shiny liquid metal but then again, I was only 10 at the time. I remember how we played with it in our hands letting the beads roll back and forth across out palms. Of course being children, there were spills and the drops would hit the floor and fly into thousands of tiny drops, never to be cleaned up or removed. I don't remember ever being told to wash our hands after playing with the liquid metal.It helps to add that in this same school, I made straight "A"s in PE playing poker with my pals and looking at girls by simply bringing the coach a cigar every couple of days but that's beside the point. When I was 3 years old, you got a better price for scrap cars if you burned them first. I remember there being 10-20 cars on our property burning at the same time. Now it's unconscionable but at the time, it was the norm. I have been exposed to toxic material through most of my young and young adult life. I collected mercury from AC thermostats for years for use in prospecting. I did study on it and learned on my own how to make and use a retort. It is still harmful and not something that I would recommend. I have no idea how much contamination I received over the years or what damage it has done to my body. I always assumed that something would kill me long before now, not that I wish for death but only expected it sooner. I have cleaned up a toxic dump site on my own, not knowing what chemicals I was exposed to for years. I remember a piece of metal that was shaped like a hockey puck with a "N" (nickel) stamped into it. It had what looked like a stainless steel thermo-coupling welded to one side. Heck, I just twisted it up and down until it snapped off. A white powder-liquid sprayed out and everywhere it touched the ground burst into flames.At first I had no idea the flames were caused by what I was holding in my hand. I finally stopped screaming and noticed the white stuff still dripping from this metal puck. Then I began playing with it and showing my friends. It was an illegal dumpsite from a chemical plant cleanup (perhaps Monsanto when it changed to Solutia). I would dig up 30-40 6" red brass gate valves at a time, and while most were empty, some would have a white powder in them that made your skin itch like crazy if you got it on you.

What I'm saying is there is plenty of dangerous things we deal with that we don't know will hurt us, why would we handle something that is a known fact to hurt us if we don't have to.


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## bswartzwelder

Geo,
I too, remember as a kid playing with mercury. It sure is an interesting metal, but one that should be left to those who absolutely need to use it. In recovery and refining, there is nothing that I can think of that you need mercury for. Anybody using mercury needs their head examined because it attacks the central nervous system. However, it never affected me. However, it never affected me. However, it never affected me.


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## Smack

I remember my mom would bring thermometers home from the hospital (must have been 5 at the time) and us kids would break them open and play with the mercury and eventually lose it to gravity. I distinctly remember playing with a bead in my hand for so long it just disappeared :shock: , maybe that's what's wrong with me. Just that one act of carelessness or in our case ignorance could be the determining factor in how I meet my death. No sure way to know exactly how it effected my body and it's ability to develop normally.

On a lighter note: My mom also used to bring home syringes from the hospital, no not with needles just the big ones used for rinsing. We grew up on a farm with livestock and for some reason we thought that the pigs needed the most medical support if you know what I mean. Poor pigs :lol:


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## FrugalRefiner

My dad worked as a maintenance machinist for an auto manufacturer. When he would replace large mercury filled switches, he would bring the mercury home and my brother and I would play with it on the kitchen table, pushing it back and forth at each other like a game of hockey. Of course, some ended up lost on the floor.

When I was 10 or 12 years old, I had a little corner in the basement crawlspace (it was about 4 feet high) where I would "experiment" with my chemistry sets. I remember putting some mercury in a test tube and heating it over an alcohol lamp to see what would happen. When it got hot enough it bumped pretty hard and shook the test tube in my hand as it boiled a bit...

That was nearly 50 years ago. I'm not aware of any health problems linked to my experiments.

Dave


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## solar_plasma

But houses are much better thermo isolated today, at least in the colder regions, so there is less ventilation. The same mercury games would probably cause a higher and longer chronic exposition, today.


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## heliman4141

This brings to mind a program on TV I watched last yr,
It was about how the poor down in South America recovered Gold in the jungles. They would walk deep into the jungle then dig up a spot that had black sand & wash it in a huge bucket.......
When it was showing Gold they would place the Gold bearing mess in a smaller 5 gal bucket with water & pure Mercury & then, in their bare feet, step into the bucket & stomp about mixing the mess up to draw all the Gold to a mass. No boots & no gloves at all. Just bare feet.
After this scary situation it got worse.............he then poured out the water & put the Mercury bearing Gold in a metal pan & placed it over a fire to evaporate the Mercury. And yes, he was standing downwind of the smoke....The photo journalist said most of these people didn't live past 35..........understandable from what I witnessed. Really scary & sad program about what some do for a few bucks in a 3rd World enviorment. Can't remember if it was Vice or Discover that I watched it on but Vice shows the real World as bad as it gets. People do this for real everyday, its insane.

Dave


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## Geo

Mercury is an amazing metal. It is an excellent collector of other fine metals. As long as the person understands the dangers and the safe handling, usage, recovery and disposal, there's really little danger in its use. The problem comes from people wanting to make a fast buck and making short cuts and ignorance of the safety issues. Among other things, mercury damages DNA and causes hideous, monstrous mutations in newborns. It can be absorbed through the skin, ingested, inhaled as a fume. Stressing the safe handling is important to reduce exposure. Mercury does a fantastic job as a collector when prospecting. Prospecting is the search of precious metals in its native environment. After the precious metal has been found, mercury should no longer be used because safer methods of recovery are available. Prospecting actually requires very little mercury to be effective. 

I am not advocating mercury use in any way and use of it should be avoided by all but trained individuals.


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## Irons

Geo said:


> Mercury is an amazing metal. It is an excellent collector of other fine metals. As long as the person understands the dangers and the safe handling, usage, recovery and disposal, there's really little danger in its use. The problem comes from people wanting to make a fast buck and making short cuts and ignorance of the safety issues. Among other things, mercury damages DNA and causes hideous, monstrous mutations in newborns. It can be absorbed through the skin, ingested, inhaled as a fume. Stressing the safe handling is important to reduce exposure. Mercury does a fantastic job as a collector when prospecting. Prospecting is the search of precious metals in its native environment. After the precious metal has been found, mercury should no longer be used because safer methods of recovery are available. Prospecting actually requires very little mercury to be effective.
> 
> I am not advocating mercury use in any way and use of it should be avoided by all but trained individuals.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease

The people who did this were 'trained individuals'.

In Maine, the use of Mercury in ANY quantity has to be approved by the State and only after a review board approves it. There is no need to use Mercury, no matter how good it does the job. The Penobscot River, near here is probably permanently contaminated from Mercury that came from a Chlorine Plant that supplied the Paper Mills with Chlorine to bleach Paper Pulp. A once productive Marine Ecosystem has been destroyed with the loss of, who knows how many thousands of good jobs to pad the bottom line of some corporate headquarters in NYC.
Nothing personal, Geo, but any apologist rhetoric gets my hackles-up.


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## Geo

No offense taken. If people obeyed laws and rules there would be no need for them. People will be people and like most stuff in nature will follow the path of least resistance. Because of the interest and size of this one topic, it shows me that telling people to avoid it and have no contact with it is a bit unrealistic. Without providing some safety issues and how to minimize exposure and contamination, people will do what people do. There are many things that I personally would not do or attempt and would try to talk someone out of doing it if I could. Failing that, I would try to influence good safety practice. Just by telling someone they should not do something peaks peoples interest in the subject. Would it not be better for people to learn how to deal with dangerous substances from a trusted source than just browsing the net? Mercury is regulated in the U.S.A. and many other countries but the countries that have just enough technology to be dangerous to themselves and no restrictions is worth trying to educate. If this forum was just seen in the US and the UK, this whole topic would be a moot subject. I could be a bit off base but I believe that some education about safety is better than none at all. No offense meant to anyone.


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## solar_plasma

The EU has stopped the export of mercury in 2011. The UN tries to force the ending of mining and export of mercury until 2020.


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## butcher

This is one topic I hate to see pop up on the forum, I have had enough problems with this metal.

There is no use for Mercury in mining or in prospecting, if there is gold you can find it, or recover it by several other means, which would work better, and safer. 

Modern methods, and education has replaced this dangerous metal, in mining, those who think they still need it to find or collect fine gold, lack education.

There is no use for mercury in recovery or refining, those who think it may be useful need education.

If mining, and prospecting, or in recovery and refining it is a good idea to get educated on this metal, and how to deal with it safely, as in these fields of work, you will most likely run into to it.


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## Harold_V

My opinion?
The only justifiable reason one might have for dealing with mercury is if they process dental amalgam (for silver recovery). Beyond that, there is no real need. 

Harold


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## butcher

Harold I agree 100%, and then it should only be dealt with, after proper education.

When prospecting, (or mining) mercury may be found, and need to be dealt with safely and responsibly.

Elemental mercury can be recovered from the bottom of the creek or rivers; it can be found, sucked up while dredging, or found while panning.

In mining this metal can be a component in the ore (not normally where the gold is), or even found in elemental form bleeding elemental mercury from the rock of a mountain.

Mercury in our streams and rivers, (the very water we drink from), in this part of the country was not as much from the mercury in the ore of these mountains, most of this mercury was introduced to these water ways by man, who used it to collect fine gold in our history, they used and added tons of mercury, to the large sluice's used in recovery of fine gold in the creeks and rivers, much of it was lost in that process, dumping tons of this toxic metal in our streams and rivers, which still remains there to this day. Contaminating our waterways. 
In our history it was not that they could have used another method to mine, to recover the fine gold, (they could have used another method to recover the fine gold), instead they chose the easiest and fastest method to recover the gold, and they had little regard to what it may do to the environment, somewhat out of ignorance, and somewhat out of just plain disregard, they were there to rape the land, get what they could, as fast, and easy as they could, and move on to the next place that may have shown better prospect, or to another virgin area that contained what they wanted the easy gold.

Today we should know better, educate ourselves to its danger, be responsible, and use the better methods (many of which have improved to recover fine gold), and understand how to safely deal with this dangerous metal only when we absolutely have to.

There is no reason to use mercury in recovery or refining. 
There is no reason to use mercury in prospecting or mining.

There are reasons we should educate ourselves on this metal, and understand how to deal with this toxic metal safely, and responsibly, should we have to.


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## Geo

I agree with everything Harold and Butcher said, the use of mercury should be avoided. I hope no one took what I said out of context. Readers here are influenced and led by members who should know right from wrong. There are correct ways and wrong ways of doing anything. The people who was contaminating everything was definitely doing it the wrong way. We recommend using lead as a collector of metals and it's toxic effects rivals that of mercury in birth defects. When prospecting, you would not normally have everything to do a proper assay with you. Using a collector gives a better idea of what metals are available without loading out pounds of material to test later. People are doing this whether we say it's ok or not anyway. Do we turn a blind eye and say, "well if your stupid enough to do it, do it without our help"? If people use lead, like is recommended, well, it just seems like a blurred line to me. 

I will not comment about it any further. Like I said, I do not advocate the use of mercury in any way, if common sense fails and and you feel the need to use a dangerous element no matter what it is, please educate yourself about the safe handling, storage, use and proper disposal of it.


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## Lou

The irresponsible use of mercury in gold recovery, particularly artisan in South America, is why there is an export ban in the US since 2012 or so. It has put people at Bethlehem Apparatus from the mercury sales business to the mercury retirement business (making it back into cinnabar from whence it came) and now the element is expensive to dispose of to industrial users.

That said, there is no use for it here on this forum and I, for one, would like to see discussion ceased about it.


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