It does not dissolve in dilute sulfuric, but in concentrated sulfuric it will form mercury sulfate. (Mercury sulfate decomposes in water)
Interesting way of separating the mercury. Use a bit of concentrated sulfuric - just enough to dissolve the mercury. Once the mercury is dissolved, remove the gold and other metals left behind, then add to water to precipitate the mercury back out.
It would work if mercury sulfate is soluble in concentrated sulfuric.
I'm interested if this can work as well. I'll keep an eye on this thread.
Make sure you read up on the chemicals, there are considerable dangers.
[edited]
after a bit of reading apparently mercuric sulfate (HgSO4) reacts with water to form mercurous sulfate (Hg2SO4) and sulfuric acid. Hg2SO4 is only very slightly soluble in water, but is soluble in hot sulfuric as well as dilute nitric. Maybe you could plate it out as liquid mercury from that point.
