Howdy folks,
Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
A fair amount of the placer gold that you pan in some areas around here is coated with mercury. I believe that a fair amount of the mercury comes from the old old miners from years ago, but some people believe that some areas may have natural occuring mercury as well.
Many people that I know just "hit" their placer gold with a torch, and they say the mercury is instantly "gone".
Well I know that is very dangerous, ( I do know people who have gotten mercury poisoning) so after careful research we built a retort out of cast iron.( places that sell retorts are almost impossible to find ).
We didn't know at first that one needed a crucible so the gold wasn't in contact with the cast iron, so the first time we tried it, the gold came out a "burnt" color.
We were then told we needed to put the gold in a crucible, so that is what we did.
We put a "tiger" torch on the retort and walk away for 10-15 minutes, and I would have thought that would be enough to get rid of any mercury but some of the gold still comes out a faint silver shiny color, and the odd piece is still has a "burnt" color, even though it is in a crucible.
It has been suggested to use nitric acid to remove the mercury, however, I have been told that usually creates "sponge" gold, and alot of the buyers around here don't want to deal with "sponge" gold and either don't want to buy it, or at an extremely reduced price.
I don't have the time or the equipment to melt the gold down,( to take care of the "sponge" gold problem) I just want to safely remove the mercury, and have a "clean" product for the buyers so I can get a proper price, but a fair amount of the gold still comes out either slightly shiny, or slightly "burnt" in color.
Would appreciate any thoughts or advice...
Nite Hawk
Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
A fair amount of the placer gold that you pan in some areas around here is coated with mercury. I believe that a fair amount of the mercury comes from the old old miners from years ago, but some people believe that some areas may have natural occuring mercury as well.
Many people that I know just "hit" their placer gold with a torch, and they say the mercury is instantly "gone".
Well I know that is very dangerous, ( I do know people who have gotten mercury poisoning) so after careful research we built a retort out of cast iron.( places that sell retorts are almost impossible to find ).
We didn't know at first that one needed a crucible so the gold wasn't in contact with the cast iron, so the first time we tried it, the gold came out a "burnt" color.
We were then told we needed to put the gold in a crucible, so that is what we did.
We put a "tiger" torch on the retort and walk away for 10-15 minutes, and I would have thought that would be enough to get rid of any mercury but some of the gold still comes out a faint silver shiny color, and the odd piece is still has a "burnt" color, even though it is in a crucible.
It has been suggested to use nitric acid to remove the mercury, however, I have been told that usually creates "sponge" gold, and alot of the buyers around here don't want to deal with "sponge" gold and either don't want to buy it, or at an extremely reduced price.
I don't have the time or the equipment to melt the gold down,( to take care of the "sponge" gold problem) I just want to safely remove the mercury, and have a "clean" product for the buyers so I can get a proper price, but a fair amount of the gold still comes out either slightly shiny, or slightly "burnt" in color.
Would appreciate any thoughts or advice...
Nite Hawk