Au in mercury

[patgspot]

Hi,

I've had this jar of mercury for many years. An old friend gave it to me before he passed away. He told me that it had alot of gold in it. How does one seperate the two metals without getting poisoned? Or is this possible for the merury to have gold in it? I know this is probably a stupid question but I'm tired of looking at this old jar and wondering about it.

Thanks,
Pat G.

 

[Noxx]

I can tell you how but you do not want to do this, especially if your have no experience in chemistry. Even some experienced chemists do not like to deal with mercury due to its toxicity.

No gold worth your health. You should ask a qualified person to do it for you. I do not even consider myself qualified to deal with it.

 

[Lou]

How mobile is the mercury, and what color? How much mercury is there?

I'd be willing to do it in exchange for the mercury.


Lou

 

[Scott2357]

Hmmm... I have some mercury in a full 4" x 2.5" diameter jar. It has a seal to prevent evaporation. Any idea what it's worth?

 

[Harold_V]

Hmmm... I have some mercury in a full 4" x 2.5" diameter jar. It has a seal to prevent evaporation. Any idea what it's worth?

If my experience is an indicator----it's worth nothing, and can be a serious disposal issue.

When I closed the doors on my refinery, I had accumulated over 100 pounds of mercury (from retorting dental amalgam). I tried to sell it at salvage yards, only to discover that they no longer accepted mercury for recycling. They used to pay $1/pound until EPA restricted its use.

I then inquired of major mercury suppliers. What I was told was that they would accept the mercury, assuming it was bottled in the proper flasks, and I paid shipping. They would pay for it only if I had more than 150 pounds. Such a deal!

I gave the mercury to the buyer of my refining business. I couldn't get too interested in buying two flasks and paying for shipment at my expense, I'm sure you understand.

If you can find a buyer for your mercury, jump at the chance. Triple distilled used to sell for around $12/lb. That's what dentists use for amalgam. Unless yours is very clean and shiny, it would be of no use to a dentist. You're likely stuck with selling to a prospector that doesn't understand it shouldn't be used any longer.

Maybe Lou would be interested. He is amongst the few on this board that would be qualified to handle it properly.

Harold

 

[patgspot]

How mobile is the mercury, and what color? How much mercury is there?

I'd be willing to do it in exchange for the mercury.


Lou

Hi Lou,

The mercury is silvery/grey with a hint of gold color to it and it's somewhat floured. There's about half of a large baby food jar. And I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by how mobile it is? i'm guessing that it was used in gold recovery and that's why my friend told that there was gold in it. That's why I've hung on to it for so long. What kind of exchange?

Thanks,
Pat G.

 

[Lou]

Pat,

What I meant by mobile, is how much it skitters around and how ''fluid'' it is. Amalgamated mercury will be stiff and putty-like and will have a gold cast to it.

What I had meant by exchange is that I would distill the mercury and keep the mercury giving you back the gold. Unfortunately, you have a small amount (see below) and I have other ways to spend my time. I'd really have to see a photo of the stuff to give an estimate on it's value anyway.


Saying that a baby jar is 4 fluid ounces, then you would have about 119mL. It's 13.6g/cc pure, and more if there is indeed gold present. That means you have about 1.62kg of mercury. Which is a small enough amount that no big company would really be interested in taking it off your hands for disposal. I thought you meant like a big jar, which would be tens of pounds and many ounces of gold.

Good luck for now, but I'll think it over.