Mercury extraction techniques

[stampeden]

I worked in a mining lab in the 1980's and we used an electrolytic amalgamator with great success. By activating the mercury with sodium (Na), the mercury was able to amalgamate gold, silver platinum, palladium and a host of other metals. When the hydrogen generated was exhausted, many of the metals would simply fall out of the mercury. There were several apparatus manufactured for this. Look up the "Malloy amalgamator'. I used one for years. YES - they hold a lot of mercury. But simply press the mercury to remove the amalgamated metals and reuse the mercury. We used an air press that was simple and effective. Cover the mercury with water when pressing. If you have any experience in this area I would love to know your experience.

side note - We cleaned quite a few mercury contaminated sites with Hydrogen Sulfide precipitating on Aluminum. It worked well.

 

[stampeden]

I made a mistake. We used sodium sulfide for extracting the mercury, not hydrogen sulfide. Sodium sulfide is nasty stuff to use but it extracts mercury. Care must be used when starting as the amount of mercury extracted will generate heat when precipitated on aluminum. Washing out all the sodium sulfide can also be difficult. Any remaining lixiviant can still contain mercury. And it stinks.