# Using mercury to recover gold from plated pins



## Cody Reeder (Dec 13, 2015)

Has any one tried such a thing? Seems to make sense to me especially if you have computer pins that have gold plated onto nickel since mercury will dissolve gold but wont alloy with nickel well. I was thinking I could submerge the pins in mercury (after cleaning to remove any oils) until the gold layer is dissolved, "rinse" the pins with more mercury to get all the gold, put them aside to have any mercury residue distilled off them, and repeat until the mercury gets enough gold to be worth retorting to obtain a concentrated powder with all the gold and a much smaller portion of base metals which would be trivial to refine. The mercury of course could be recycled so the only consumables would be heat, time, and pins.

I fully intend to do an experiment on this but I wanted to get your thoughts before I dive in; I mean if someone has done it and failed spectacularly I would like to know about it.


----------



## solar_plasma (Dec 13, 2015)

It doesn't make sense. First of all, Hg ist too nasty. Second it will leave the basemetals being plated with amalgame, if not distilled off, which again will be even more nasty. I don't know how it alloys with nickel, but the nickel layer is very thin. Beneath there is copper which definately forms amalgame.

You would produce a lot of very problematic waste and probably poison yourself and the environment. It is not by chance, that the use of Hg is prohibited most places for most applications and prohibited in the EU to export it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element) =>Regulations)



> I fully intend to do an experiment on this but I wanted to get your thoughts before I dive in; I mean if someone has done it and failed spectacularly I would like to know about it.



You know this side is monitored by officials and I guess chances are they will "fully intend" to visit you and inspect your home, if you really "fully intend" to do so. At least here in Germany they would do so, chemistry forums are full of first hand experiences with this kind.

edit: being a member for a longer time and having made 80 posts, you should know better about the board's policy about Hg. I don't know if you have the professional environment and knowledge to work safely with Hg, but most readers don't. New readers might read your idea and think, this is an acceptable process, - which it isn't.


----------



## g_axelsson (Dec 13, 2015)

I totally agree with Björn, stupid idea as mercury vapors are invisible and can contaminate an area without it showing. Long term damages are on the brain and the nerve system. Nothing I would ever expose myself of.

In theory, theory and practice should be consistent, but in practice they rarely are.

Göran


----------



## Cody Reeder (Dec 13, 2015)

I see we have some Hg-Phobics on this form now, but perhaps living in Murcia has made me a bit more liberal with naturally occurring elements that can be made poisonous. I mostly posed this question out of curiosity and from a scientific standpoint. If my post somehow goes against the rules of the forum then I invite the current moderator to please delete or move the post. 

Now that that's out of the way I have an update to my experiments! I have attached an image with pins at different stages in the process:
On the far left are fresh pins that have had nothing done to them, to the right of that pile I have some pins that spent the night soaking in mercury and are still coated in it, next are the pins after spending half an hour in a retort at 900F, and on the far right I have some pins that were never exposed to mercury but also heated in the retort.
as you can see the pins that had the mercury treatment indeed have the gold mostly removed.


----------



## solar_plasma (Dec 13, 2015)

And where should the gold have gone? It is still on those pins. What I see is just what I told you it will happen. I am no Hg-phobic, I have used it at work, before it got prohibited. Therefor I know very well, how it behaves and how careful one must be not to contaminate anything with smallest and hard to see drops.

You haven't shown anything.


----------



## FrugalRefiner (Dec 13, 2015)

What I see in the third group of pins is toxic waste. You cannot retort off all the mercury. Some will remain on those pins.

I'm not mercury phobic, but I don't think it's a good idea.

Dave


----------



## artart47 (Dec 13, 2015)

Hi!
Yeah! he's right. you should also have the deplated materials in the retort along with the amalgam. Then, I'm curious, In the industry, how do they process or treat the post-retort material including the gold powder, that may still contain traces of Hg?
I think it's good that this came up because there are more than likely new readers who may have screwed around with mercury and if they have contaminated materials laying around, need to know the seriousness of properly dealing with it. 
Would be good to have a place here, "how do I deal with..blank...that I messed with?" 
artart47


----------



## Eamonn (Dec 13, 2015)

@artart47 Thats seems like a good idea.
There must be lots of forum members who had suspect or unusual waste, maybe from when they knew no better, and dealt with it correctly.

Eamonn


----------



## resabed01 (Dec 13, 2015)

Cody,

I assume you are the same Cody Reeder from the Youtube channel Cody'sLab. I've watched and enjoyed many of your videos. Some of them could be considered controversial especially when you work with dangerous substances. I've seen many of your mercury videos and don't agree with your viewpoint that Hg is as harmless as you may believe. Seems you have some denial about the harmful effects this heavy metal can have on the yourself and environment. Just because you are able to mine Cinnabar from your land and turn it onto Hg does not make it all natural and harmless. For your own good, please study and learn about the hazards of Hg and take all precautions possible.
By all means, I am not a Hg-phobic but I am concerned for your safety, especially after watching some of your videos.
As the others mentioned, using mercury for gold recovery on pins isn't a good idea. You're right, it will amalgam with gold but it also bonds to copper, lead, tin and others. And the process you propose will work to some degree. What you'll end up with is a soup of metals and the task of trying to figure out a way to separate them. Not to mention the hazardous wastes created doing so.
Say for example you go forward with this. Starting out with 1Kg of Hg. After you finish processing you recover 997g of mercury. Where did the other 3 grams go??? into the environment of course and probably some into your lungs too.

There are better methods to recover gold from pins. This site details them quite well.


----------



## Cody Reeder (Dec 13, 2015)

You guys are right, terrible idea for large scale production. I think I satisfied my curiosity with my small scale test using no more than a gram of mercury. Judging by your reactions I dont think that I will post any of this to YouTube.


----------



## Geo (Dec 13, 2015)

Cody, I have watched most of your videos and enjoy the experiments you do. I too worry about your exposure to mercury. Mercury is most harmful to developing brains. You are a young man. If you have children or are planning on having children, mercury contamination would be very harmful to them. The mercury doesn't just stay where you think it is, it's on your clothing, in your hair, on you tools, in the dirt that you carry into your home on the bottoms of your shoes.


----------



## beav3r316 (Dec 13, 2015)

I was just going to say, this is Cody'slab Cody, It has to be. So I must say, I like your channel quite a lot. Keep the videos coming. And, good luck.

But.... Maybe wear a respirator next time you electroplate with cyanide 8) 

As far as the poisoning goes from mercury... I played with it a lot as a kid, as did my father... and a very LARGE percentage of the populace has amalgam dental fillings... so, yes, it is poisonous, but in its elemental form, only the vapors it seems are, unless you have ingested some or got some in a cut. I don't really see how it is any worse than beryllium.. 

from wiki-
"Mercury poisoning can result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury (such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), by inhalation of mercury vapor, or by eating food contaminated with mercury..."

Mercury is also used as a preserving agent in a great majority of vaccines as well. Heavy metals tend to build up in the body before any poisoning is apparent. Some blame this on the increase of autism in todays youth..

So long as its treated with respect, and safety measures are taken during the retort stage of recovery, (and proper disposal), I don't think you will become the mad-hatter.... but I don't know ****

again, good luck

share your results, as we all learn from our mistakes, and not only the success stories should be shared, but the failures as well, so others can learn from our mistakes and not follow in our footsteps.


----------



## g_axelsson (Dec 13, 2015)

Mercury is used in fluorescent lamps as it emits a lot of UV-light when you have an electric discharge in mercury vapor. That means mercury vapor also absorbs UV-light even when it's invisible in normal light and will cast a shadow in UV....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JABbofwD3MI[/youtube]

That is mercury vapor! I hope you have stored your mercury in a sealed vessel.

Try the sulfuric reverse plating cell (after studying safety and handling) instead, it will also make a good video. I always gets the feeling that it's close to magic as base metals are protected while gold goes into solution.

Göran


----------



## beav3r316 (Dec 13, 2015)

So, after doing a little digging...I would like to recant my stance and lean the other way


Widespread mercury poisoning occurred in rural Iraq in 1971-1972, when grain treated with a methylmercury-based fungicide that was intended for planting only was used by the rural population to make bread, causing at least 6530 cases of mercury poisoning and at least 459 deaths (see Basra poison grain disaster).[59]

On August 14, 1996, Karen Wetterhahn, a chemistry professor working at Dartmouth College, spilled a small amount of dimethylmercury on her latex glove. She began experiencing the symptoms of mercury poisoning five months later and, despite aggressive chelation therapy, died a few months later from brain malfunction due to mercury intoxication.[21][22]

In April 2000, Alan Chmurny attempted to kill a former employee, Marta Bradley, by pouring mercury into the ventilation system of her car.[60]

On March 19, 2008, Tony Winnett, 55, inhaled mercury vapors while trying to extract gold from computer parts (by using liquid mercury to separate gold from the rest of the alloy), and died ten days later. His Oklahoma residence became so contaminated that it had to be gutted.[61][62]

In December 2008, actor Jeremy Piven was diagnosed with mercury poisoning possibly resulting from eating sushi twice a day for twenty years or herbal remedies he was also taking.[63]
In India, a study by the non-profit Centre for Science and Environment has found that in the country's energy capital Singrauli,[64] mercury is slowly entering people's homes, food, water and even blood.

This was in the Mercury Poisoning Wiki

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

Beav3r


----------



## Cody Reeder (Dec 13, 2015)

beav3r316 said:


> I was just going to say, this is Cody'slab Cody, It has to be. So I must say, I like your channel quite a lot. Keep the videos coming. And, good luck.


You guys found out; What I get for using my real name lol.

So I actually have a video planned where I go get tested for mercury, to see just how much I'm actually getting. I haven't done it yet because I was trying to get TAOFLEDERMAUS to do a co-lab on it. From our emails it doesn't look like he wants to do it citing adequate safety precautions.


----------



## beav3r316 (Dec 14, 2015)

Since the cat is out of the bag, ...how much cinnabar did it take you to get THAT much Hg? (when you dunked your hand)


----------



## Cody Reeder (Dec 14, 2015)

beav3r316 said:


> Since the cat is out of the bag, ...how much cinnabar did it take you to get THAT much Hg? (when you dunked your hand)



That quantity came from the mine before I was born so I dont know. Judging from my own extractions I would say at least a ton of ore was processed to get 20lbs


----------

