Recovering fine gold from mercury

[kurtak]

Safer then a retort, is to squeeze the Mercury through a good Chamois. Use a little Nitric/water, to dissolve the little bit of Mercury. To clean the Nitric, put a Copper strip in the solution to cement out the Mercury.

As Goldshark suggested.....

The problem with cementing mercury with copper is that "some" of the mercury remains "alloyed" with the copper

Yes - that's right - I said alloyed

Amalgam is actually an alloy of mercury with certain other metals (such as copper, silver, gold etc. etc.)

That is because mercury is actually a "solvent" for various metals including but not limited to copper, silver & gold so when the mercury dissolves those metals it makes a "mixture" of the mercury plus the metal it is dissolving very much the same as the mixture of metals when making an alloy by melting them with heat

This is why mercury works for collecting gold FINE gold - it actual dissolves the gold making it a chemical mixture (or alloy) of mercury/gold

When melting different metals to make an alloy the lower melt temp metals become a "solvent" for the higher melt temp metals thereby creating a chemically bonded mixture of the metals - or an alloy

Mercury does the same thing only mercury does this without the need for heat

Here is a video that shows how mercury actually dissolves the gold - chemically bonding the gold with the mercury - which is then an alloyed mixture of gold/mercury



We call this amalgamation because mercury does this metal/chemical mixing on it's own & without heat

The mercury can then be parted from the gold with nitric - much the same as we would part the silver from gold with nitric when we alloy silver & gold by inquarting gold with silver --- or you can part the mercury from the gold by retorting due to the evaporation of the mercury with heat

So - when you cement mercury from mercury nitrate - in as much as much of the mercury will roll off the copper & pool at the bottom of the beaker "some" of the mercury will remain bonded to the surface of the copper (as seen in Coddy's video)

That is because once you reach the point that the nitric is completely loaded with copper ions (copper being the less reactive metal) the mercury starts making the mercury/copper chemical bond at the surface of the copper

In other words - it's actually a very thin (molecular) alloy (chemical mixture) of mercury/copper - at the surface of the copper --- kind of like emersion plating

In order to remove that surface mercury bonded to the copper you would have to put the copper in a retort to remove (vaporize) the mercury off the copper

To better explain it - what you have (&/or end up with) is a piece of copper & at the molecular surface of the copper a chemically bonded mixture of mercury/copper with another very thin surface coating of just mercury on top of the mercury/copper --- you get that thin layer of just mercury at the very surface because mercury likes to bond with mercury - which is why mercury comes together in a pool

The "old time" hard rock miners used this principal to capture the ultra ULTRA fine gold that liked to wash off the end of their concentrator tables --- they would coat copper plates with mercury (due to the chemical bonding explained above) they would then place those mercury coated plates at the very end of their concentrator table - the very thin mercury layer on top of the mercury/copper layer would then collect any ultra ULTRA fine gold that did not get captured on the actual concentrator table

Just how they removed the gold from the mercury coated copper plates I don't know

For what it is worth

Kurt

 

[kurtak]

Safer then a retort, is to squeeze the Mercury through a good Chamois. Use a little Nitric/water, to dissolve the little bit of Mercury.

Per the bold print - I am sorry but I have to disagree - mercury dissolved in nitric is VERY TOXIC - you certainly do not want to get it on you as a result of splashing &/or a spill - use EXTREEM caution when handling a solution of mercury dissolved in nitric

You are much better served using a properly set up retort

Here is a good video on retorting gold amalgam -------



You can (I believe) order one from him - or they sell them on ebay -----------

https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_nkw=mercury+retort&Brand=&_dcat=15913

Or you can make one like this ----------



With this type retort set up the bottom of the outside pipe that has the slots at the bottom of the pipe - the slots need to be under water so that the mercury vapors exiting the slots at the bottom of the pipe condense back to actual mercury in the water --- you put the amalgam in the cap welded on top of the rod (which is weld to an heavy iron plat at the bottom of the rod) you then slide the outside pipe (with slots at bottom & kept under water) over the rod/cap & then heat the outside pipe at the top where the cap on top of the rod inside the pipe is

As 4metals said --------

I have only used a retort while dredging in South America and at the end of my stay the dewar of mercury we started with still weighed in at 20 pounds. So we didn't spill or lose any.

With a properly set up & run retort - you should be able to recover ALL mercury with little or NO risk

The keys to properly running a retort are ------

1) make sure the are no leaks in the retort where mercury vapors can escape (no pin holes in welds & threaded fittings are "tight")

2) provide heat until you are sure all the mercury has vaporized

3) allow the retort to completely cool down insuring all vapors have condensed back actual mercury in the discharge/water end of the retort

I would appreciate a photo of a glass retort for mercury.

4metals - here are some pics of glass retorts - I would not trust them for retorting gold amalgam - glass likes to break

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=glass+retort&_sop=12

Edit to add; - & for what it is worth - I have done both - dissolved mercury (form gold amalgam) then cemented the mercury from the mercury nitrate as well as retorted it --- hands down - I will go with retorting over dissolving mercury with nitric

Kurt

 

[kurtak]

Edit to add; - & for what it is worth - I have done both - dissolved mercury (form gold amalgam) then cemented the mercury from the mercury nitrate as well as retorted it --- hands down - I will go with retorting over dissolving mercury with nitric

As a matter of fact - as a matter of safety I need to tell this story

When a lived in Northern California I had several friends that were miners several of which used mercury to recover fine gold from there concentrates

All of them - but one used retorts for their gold amalgam - the one that used nitric - he was also one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet - after about 6 or 7 years of using nitric to part his gold from his gold amalgam he literally became "as mad as a hatter" --- the guys using retorts never suffered such an ill fate

Mercury - in it's elemental form is actually not very toxic at all - so as long as you properly set up & run a retort there is little to NO risk to getting mercury poisoning

On the other hand - mercury dissolved in acids is VERY TOXIC - so if you get it on your skin (a splash or spill) it gets "absorbed" in the skin & then carried into the blood stream & deposited in the organs in body (brain in particular) your body does not easily get rid of it so it builds up (especially in the brain) - so - small amounts - over time - add up - resulting in - like my friend - mad as a hatter

If you want - I can tell another story wherein I recovered several gallons of mercury from about the inch of dust on the floor of the retort room at an old (abandoned) cinnabar mine --- I suffered no ill effects from handling a LARGE amount of elemental mercury over the course of about a year

Kurt

 

[goldshark]

As a matter of fact - as a matter of safety I need to tell this story

When a lived in Northern California I had several friends that were miners several of which used mercury to recover fine gold from there concentrates

All of them - but one used retorts for their gold amalgam - the one that used nitric - he was also one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet - after about 6 or 7 years of using nitric to part his gold from his gold amalgam he literally became "as mad as a hatter" --- the guys using retorts never suffered such an ill fate

Mercury - in it's elemental form is actually not very toxic at all - so as long as you properly set up & run a retort there is little to NO risk to getting mercury poisoning

On the other hand - mercury dissolved in acids is VERY TOXIC - so if you get it on your skin (a splash or spill) it gets "absorbed" in the skin & then carried into the blood stream & deposited in the organs in body (brain in particular) your body does not easily get rid of it so it builds up (especially in the brain) - so - small amounts - over time - add up - resulting in - like my friend - mad as a hatter

If you want - I can tell another story wherein I recovered several gallons of mercury from about the inch of dust on the floor of the retort room at an old (abandoned) cinnabar mine --- I suffered no ill effects from handling a LARGE amount of elemental mercury over the course of about a year

Kurt

I always enjoy good stories. Since this is a Gold refining forum, I think it is best to provide ALL there is to know about as many processes, and there nuances, as is practical. Since our members refine dental, and placer Au, which may be contaminated with Mercury, let's at least provide the most truthful, intelligent, practical options, then let them pick an option which best suits their needs. Not just a "Mercury bad, fire good" debate.
My reaction to the distillation in the glass lab ware, was initially " you got to be F-*36&^g kidding me"! Since most of my retorting has been with a steel cup, Keene Engineering type retort, where you put the cup over whatever heat source is available, turn the cooling condenser water on, make sure the tail piece can' suck water up, then get up wind for 15 to 20 minutes. Good glass ware, the proper thermometer, competent operator, and the other requirements for a distillation in a lab, under a scrubbed fume hood, is something a lot of our members can't afford. Despite it being a cheap health insurance policy.
This is why I suggested the time tested Chamois, Nitric, cement process, and the associated end waste handling.
My mission statement is to provide the best info out there, for the safest, least amount of hazardous waste.
Otherwise, you and I both know these experimental, foolish practices will continue to generate hazardous waste at a greater level than it could be. Just trying to be a good steward of the planet.

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Indeed. Putting 52 grams of gold in something not knowing how to get it out. And choosing an extremely polluting and outdated recovery method.
Not telling him how to recover it would maybe be the best lesson in discouragement he can get.
A very expensive one.

I understand how you feel. I come from a family of hardrock miners that goes back generations. (As a matter of fact, my family owned the land where they discovered gold at sutters mill,..before the gold rush.) Crazy story for another thread... my dad spent over 50 years underground mining. The last 30 were on the claims i now own. Onthe veins mined run 2-4oz of au pt, with pockets running as good as 8-14oz of au pt .BUT, the problem is the gold is fine gold at best, and gets smaller. not molecular but microscopic. in hard rock. My dad learned old school methods and went with what he knew and stayed within blm guidelines. cyanide has never been an option. He sent his ore out to be milled. but he panned as he followed the quartz veins to keep track of the % of au and used mercury to capture what he pan,ed out instead of tossing it. All that being said, before my dad passed a couple years ago when i got the claims, He gave me some clean mercury so i could use. It in the same manner.. due to multiple complicationsHe lost most of his memory within a year with his health then I was with miningAnd never had the opportunity for him to explain all the details. The following year I spent trying to get things squared away with BLM and extensive Reclamation work before I could even start anything. I have a active plan of operation but as of now I am still sampling and testing different areas to see where I want to begin. The 52 grams come from my testing the or for grade.

Indeed. Putting 52 grams of gold in something not knowing how to get it out. And choosing an extremely polluting and outdated recovery method.
Not telling him how to recover it would maybe be the best lesson in discouragement he can get.
A very expensive one.

I understand and respect where your coming from, but i asked about the mercury because im inexperienced and wanted to learn a safe way to handle it. Please read my most current msg regarding this thread. its lengthy, but maybe you wont be so quick to be angry with me and my problem.

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Hi everyone. I have aprox: 52 grams of gold thats amalgamated with mercury. I have mining claims, its all hard rock no placer, and my gold is very fine. I crush and pan to check the grade of the ore and use mercury to clean up whats in the pan when im done. I weighed the mercury when i started doing this, and it weighs 52 grams heavier now. Whats the safest and easiest way i can get the gold seperated oit of the mercury. Thank you

Thank you everyone for the information you have given me. Some of you seem to be really upset with my situationAnd I respect that and totally understand where you're coming from I'd like to explain how I ended up with 52 g of gold in my Mercury in the first place, and hopefully with a better understanding of my situation you won'tFeel so harshly. My dad wasn't underground Miner for over 50 years. Everything he knew he was taught from his dad and his dad's dad. Definitely in the old ways. He stayed within legal parameters he held a current blessing permit that was valid for several months after his passing had he not passed. My family has Generations back of mining. Guess you could say it's inMy blood. It's all I wanted to doWhile I was growing up but I was a girl and my dad was old school so I had a family instead. I had three wonderful boys I ended up raising them on my own with my dad being a big part of their lives my oldest two spent their vacations and Summers with him on his claims butWe're always too young for him to be able to teach them much. My dad got an unrelated injury and was unable to continue mining in any mannerThat was always hopeful but he was always hopeful he would be back at it. So it said for over 10 yearsUntouched. From the time he realized he would not get back to Mining and when he passed wasLess than 1 year due to unexpected illnesses that were extremely debilitating he lost most of his memory very quickly and he wasn't ableTo explain to me everything I needed to no aboutRunning the mine

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Thank you everyone for the information you have given me. Some of you seem to be really upset with my situationAnd I respect that and totally understand where you're coming from I'd like to explain how I ended up with 52 g of gold in my Mercury in the first place, and hopefully with a better understanding of my situation you won'tFeel so harshly. My dad wasn't underground Miner for over 50 years. Everything he knew he was taught from his dad and his dad's dad. Definitely in the old ways. He stayed within legal parameters he held a current blessing permit that was valid for several months after his passing had he not passed. My family has Generations back of mining. Guess you could say it's inMy blood. It's all I wanted to doWhile I was growing up but I was a girl and my dad was old school so I had a family instead. I had three wonderful boys I ended up raising them on my own with my dad being a big part of their lives my oldest two spent their vacations and Summers with him on his claims butWe're always too young for him to be able to teach them much. My dad got an unrelated injury and was unable to continue mining in any mannerThat was always hopeful but he was always hopeful he would be back at it. So it said for over 10 yearsUntouched. From the time he realized he would not get back to Mining and when he passed wasLess than 1 year due to unexpected illnesses that were extremely debilitating he lost most of his memory very quickly and he wasn't ableTo explain to me everything I needed to no aboutRunning the mine

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

I don’t know that the method is that complicated, but I have met a few people that just wasn’t capable of following directions very well. Even written, well explained directions can be pretty problematic at times for a good many people.

I would never suggest mercury as a means to collect gold out in the field, but knowing how to collect and properly dispose of it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Please readMy most recent messageThank you

 

[Yggdrasil]

Thank you everyone for the information you have given me. Some of you seem to be really upset with my situationAnd I respect that and totally understand where you're coming from I'd like to explain how I ended up with 52 g of gold in my Mercury in the first place, and hopefully with a better understanding of my situation you won'tFeel so harshly. My dad wasn't underground Miner for over 50 years. Everything he knew he was taught from his dad and his dad's dad. Definitely in the old ways. He stayed within legal parameters he held a current blessing permit that was valid for several months after his passing had he not passed. My family has Generations back of mining. Guess you could say it's inMy blood. It's all I wanted to doWhile I was growing up but I was a girl and my dad was old school so I had a family instead. I had three wonderful boys I ended up raising them on my own with my dad being a big part of their lives my oldest two spent their vacations and Summers with him on his claims butWe're always too young for him to be able to teach them much. My dad got an unrelated injury and was unable to continue mining in any mannerThat was always hopeful but he was always hopeful he would be back at it. So it said for over 10 yearsUntouched. From the time he realized he would not get back to Mining and when he passed wasLess than 1 year due to unexpected illnesses that were extremely debilitating he lost most of his memory very quickly and he wasn't ableTo explain to me everything I needed to no aboutRunning the mine

As said, retort is the best solution and can be done with no loss of Mercury.
The symptoms you describe is many of the same that Mercury poisoning gives.
So I wonder how it was done before.

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Thank you everyone for the information you have given me. Some of you seem to be really upset with my situationAnd I respect that and totally understand where you're coming from I'd like to explain how I ended up with 52 g of gold in my Mercury in the first place, and hopefully with a better understanding of my situation you won'tFeel so harshly. My dad wasn't underground Miner for over 50 years. Everything he knew he was taught from his dad and his dad's dad. Definitely in the old ways. He stayed within legal parameters he held a current blessing permit that was valid for several months after his passing had he not passed. My family has Generations back of mining. Guess you could say it's inMy blood. It's all I wanted to doWhile I was growing up but I was a girl and my dad was old school so I had a family instead. I had three wonderful boys I ended up raising them on my own with my dad being a big part of their lives my oldest two spent their vacations and Summers with him on his claims butWe're always too young for him to be able to teach them much. My dad got an unrelated injury and was unable to continue mining in any mannerThat was always hopeful but he was always hopeful he would be back at it. So it said for over 10 yearsUntouched. From the time he realized he would not get back to Mining and when he passed wasLess than 1 year due to unexpected illnesses that were extremely debilitating he lost most of his memory very quickly and he wasn't ableTo explain to me everything I needed to no aboutRunning the mine

So I have been learning as I go. My claims are in an area of environmental concernAnd BLM regulations have become quite extensive since my dad was mining them. I spent a couple years doing extensive reclamationAnd everything elseNeededTo be up to date with BLM. Along the way I have been grabbing samples and panning them out to check the grade of different veins of quartz so when I am able I will have a better idea of where I want to start. Like my dad did before me I've been cleaning up my pansWith mercury. So now having had the claims for a couple years,, and spendingEvery dollar I had on Reclamation work and an uncountable amount of time taking samples and panning them out, recovering the gold back from the Mercury is going to be the only way I can affordTo do any miningNow that I'm going to be able to doAny mining in the foreseeable future. I am not soFemale opinionated opinionated to think

The problem with cementing mercury with copper is that "some" of the mercury remains "alloyed" with the copper

Yes - that's right - I said alloyed

Amalgam is actually an alloy of mercury with certain other metals (such as copper, silver, gold etc. etc.)

That is because mercury is actually a "solvent" for various metals including but not limited to copper, silver & gold so when the mercury dissolves those metals it makes a "mixture" of the mercury plus the metal it is dissolving very much the same as the mixture of metals when making an alloy by melting them with heat

This is why mercury works for collecting gold FINE gold - it actual dissolves the gold making it a chemical mixture (or alloy) of mercury/gold

When melting different metals to make an alloy the lower melt temp metals become a "solvent" for the higher melt temp metals thereby creating a chemically bonded mixture of the metals - or an alloy

Mercury does the same thing only mercury does this without the need for heat

Here is a video that shows how mercury actually dissolves the gold - chemically bonding the gold with the mercury - which is then an alloyed mixture of gold/mercury



We call this amalgamation because mercury does this metal/chemical mixing on it's own & without heat

The mercury can then be parted from the gold with nitric - much the same as we would part the silver from gold with nitric when we alloy silver & gold by inquarting gold with silver --- or you can part the mercury from the gold by retorting due to the evaporation of the mercury with heat

So - when you cement mercury from mercury nitrate - in as much as much of the mercury will roll off the copper & pool at the bottom of the beaker "some" of the mercury will remain bonded to the surface of the copper (as seen in Coddy's video)

That is because once you reach the point that the nitric is completely loaded with copper ions (copper being the less reactive metal) the mercury starts making the mercury/copper chemical bond at the surface of the copper

In other words - it's actually a very thin (molecular) alloy (chemical mixture) of mercury/copper - at the surface of the copper --- kind of like emersion plating

In order to remove that surface mercury bonded to the copper you would have to put the copper in a retort to remove (vaporize) the mercury off the copper

To better explain it - what you have (&/or end up with) is a piece of copper & at the molecular surface of the copper a chemically bonded mixture of mercury/copper with another very thin surface coating of just mercury on top of the mercury/copper --- you get that thin layer of just mercury at the very surface because mercury likes to bond with mercury - which is why mercury comes together in a pool

The "old time" hard rock miners used this principal to capture the ultra ULTRA fine gold that liked to wash off the end of their concentrator tables --- they would coat copper plates with mercury (due to the chemical bonding explained above) they would then place those mercury coated plates at the very end of their concentrator table - the very thin mercury layer on top of the mercury/copper layer would then collect any ultra ULTRA fine gold that did not get captured on the actual concentrator table

Just how they removed the gold from the mercury coated copper plates I don't know

For what it is worth

Kurt

I would like to say for what it's worthThat theGrade of the ore that my dad sent off to be processed ran on average between 2-4oz of au pt, with pockets that ran 8oz au pt, one pocket carried 14 oz au pt. I can tell you with confidence that he shipped his ore to be processed because at its best, its fine gold. Mostly its mi roscopic. not down as far as molecular though... my dad only mined the veins wIth free milling gold. There are veins that are sulfide ore,.. that gold is molecular.

 

[Shark]

Please readMy most recent messageThank you

I think I would offer the same advice I would a person looking to use acids to refine with. Write out a plan, step by step, and allow the forum users to critique it. A picture of the retort and its condition might be useful as well. While I have not seen an actual retort for mercury in around 50 years, and then only the one time, as I recall it wasn’t that complicated. Still there are others here that could be more helpful with it than I would be. Kurtak may well have posted all the information you need as well.

Keep us informed of the progress and how it works out. Maybe others can learn a thing or three as well.

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Thank you everyone for the information you have given me. Some of you seem to be really upset with my situationAnd I respect that and totally understand where you're coming from I'd like to explain how I ended up with 52 g of gold in my Mercury in the first place, and hopefully with a better understanding of my situation you won'tFeel so harshly. My dad wasn't underground Miner for over 50 years. Everything he knew he was taught from his dad and his dad's dad. Definitely in the old ways. He stayed within legal parameters he held a current blessing permit that was valid for several months after his passing had he not passed. My family has Generations back of mining. Guess you could say it's inMy blood. It's all I wanted to doWhile I was growing up but I was a girl and my dad was old school so I had a family instead. I had three wonderful boys I ended up raising them on my own with my dad being a big part of their lives my oldest two spent their vacations and Summers with him on his claims butWe're always too young for him to be able to teach them much. My dad got an unrelated injury and was unable to continue mining in any mannerThat was always hopeful but he was always hopeful he would be back at it. So it said for over 10 yearsUntouched. From the time he realized he would not get back to Mining and when he passed wasLess than 1 year due to unexpected illnesses that were extremely debilitating he lost most of his memory very quickly and he wasn't ableTo explain to me everything I needed to no aboutRunning the mine

So I have been learning as I go. My claims are in an area of environmental concernAnd BLM regulations have become quite extensive since my dad was mining them. I spent a couple years doing extensive reclamationAnd everything elseNeededTo be up to date with BLM. Along the way I have been grabbing samples and panning them out to check the grade of different veins of quartz so when I am able I will have a better idea of where I want to start. Like my dad did before me I've been cleaning up my pansWith mercury. So now having had the claims for a couple years,, and spendingEvery dollar I had on Reclamation work and an uncountable amount of time taking samples and panning them out, recovering the gold back from the Mercury is going to be the only way I can affordTo do any miningNow that I'm going to be able to doAny mining in the foreseeable future. I am not soFemale opinionated opinionated to think

I think I would offer the same advice I would a person looking to use acids to refine with. Write out a plan, step by step, and allow the forum users to critique it. A picture of the retort and its condition might be useful as well. While I have not seen an actual retort for mercury in around 50 years, and then only the one time, as I recall it wasn’t that complicated. Still there are others here that could be more helpful with it than I would be. Kurtak may well have posted all the information you need as well.

Keep us informed of the progress and how it works out. Maybe others can learn a thing or three as well.

Thanks. I will do that

 

[goldshark]

As said, retort is the best solution and can be done with no loss of Mercury.
The symptoms you describe is many of the same that Mercury poisoning gives.
So I wonder how it was done before.

I hate whipping a dead horse as it never gets you any where.The only light whipping I will give is to the sealing of the unit at the cup seal. This came up on the thread, sorry, I can't remember the name of it, but kind of ended at the hot debate between 2 people, where I think 1 party got banned. Anyway it ended where one was asking about a sublimate forming externally on the cup, and I don't believe we ever got the question answered adequately.
This left me with the unknown as to wether this cup was 100% sealed, and my duty as a citizen of the planet, to help make sure there are answers out here to provide people with viable options. So I ask the following questions;
What is the best thread sealant for the most popular type of retort, The Keene type 2" pipe thread cup ?
What is the best temp to hold the cup at, and for how long?
What is the best cup lining material ( put in the bottom to keep the Gold from sticking to cup ) ?

 

[kurtak]

What is the best thread sealant for the most popular type of retort, The Keene type 2" pipe thread cup ?

What is the best cup lining material ( put in the bottom to keep the Gold from sticking to cup ) ?

Powdered graphite for both of those questions - that is what you see the guy in the video I provided using & he is using it as it is the "recommendation"

The graphite "in" the cup works just like seasoning a cast iron mold with a layer of carbon to prevent gold or silver from sticking to the mold - The black stuff you see in the pan when he dumps the gold in the cup into the pan is the graphite

The graphite on the threads is a gap filler - when you heat the cup (pipe cap) the threads expand bringing them closer together & the graphite completes the seal - powdered graphite is also a dry lubricant so it helps to prevent thread deformation from the heat which can make it difficult to remove the cap after heating/cooling

What is the best temp to hold the cup at, and for how long?

700 F is the "recommendation" but it can be a bit plus/minus that - how long is going to depend "somewhat" on temp (at 600 F a bit longer at 800 F a bit faster) --- the bigger time factor is determined by the amount of amalgam in the cup --- more mercury = more time & less mercury = less time (so it is a bit of a learning curve)

The best indicator is when you no longer see mercury condensing (& falling out in the water) at the exit end of the retort - then let the heat run for about another 5 minutes

Kurt

 

[goldshark]

Powdered graphite for both of those questions - that is what you see the guy in the video I provided using & he is using it as it is the "recommendation"

The graphite "in" the cup works just like seasoning a cast iron mold with a layer of carbon to prevent gold or silver from sticking to the mold - The black stuff you see in the pan when he dumps the gold in the cup into the pan is the graphite

The graphite on the threads is a gap filler - when you heat the cup (pipe cap) the threads expand bringing them closer together & the graphite completes the seal - powdered graphite is also a dry lubricant so it helps to prevent thread deformation from the heat which can make it difficult to remove the cap after heating/cooling


700 F is the "recommendation" but it can be a bit plus/minus that - how long is going to depend "somewhat" on temp (at 600 F a bit longer at 800 F a bit faster) --- the bigger time factor is determined by the amount of amalgam in the cup --- more mercury = more time & less mercury = less time (so it is a bit of a learning curve)

The best indicator is when you no longer see mercury condensing (& falling out in the water) at the exit end of the retort - then let the heat run for about another 5 minutes

Kurt

Perfect, thank you Kurt !

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

There are a lot of people who can't chew bubble gum and walk at the same time, who want to be Gold miners. It is this mentality that leads to the irresponsible use of not just Mercury, but any kind of chemical for sale to the public today. A prime example is Roundup, and other like chemicals, invading our food and water supply. We are becoming the polluters to the next generations. It just takes a matter of perspective.
The amount of Mercury used today for mining, pales in comparison to the other ways Mercury is put back into the environment. At least in the US any way. More Mercury could be recovered, via dredging, improving all aspects of qualities for fish, water, human consumption of fish, etc.
Knowing how to use it, is imperative, if you are going to use it. It will not disappear off the planet if you keep "disposing of it properly". You are only dumping it on some other place, or person.

I agree with you wholeheartedly! My dad never disposed of it. He cleaned it and reused it. It was his dads before him, and now is mine. I keep it in a rubber lined steel mercury flask with water covering it to the top of the container when i wasnt using it to clean up my pans. When i used it i used it with water covering it,and as dumb as it may sound, i keep a small kiddy pool(blue plastic type) that i sit inside of in a plastic patio chair. The pool has water in it as well. just in case i spill.

 

[sheilareidsmail46]

Thank you everyone for all the input. Even the negative comments were appreciated. I will post what process i end up using as well as the results. I firy believe theres no such thing as stupid questions, because there is always room to learn something.

 

[Joe Irvine]

While dredging placer gold in Ecuador in the late '80's every night when we cleaned up the dredge there were balls of mercury in the cleanup. None of which came from us. Careless use of mercury has serious effects on the environment, much worse than careful use of a retort.

The same can be said for cyanide, it's not the planned usage it's unplanned spills end exposure.

It is things like this that I'm trying to find out about. I'm in Romania working for the next two months. I'm down river from the UNESCO world heritage Gold mining site on the Aries river. I would expect that since this a former communist country that there'd be a lot of mercury and cyanide waste in the river. I'm going to try to pan (am I even allowed to pan here?) and if I find gold with stuff stuck to it (mercury or something else) how would I safely store it and bring it back to the USA?

 

[Yggdrasil]

It is things like this that I'm trying to find out about. I'm in Romania working for the next two months. I'm down river from the UNESCO world heritage Gold mining site on the Aries river. I would expect that since this a former communist country that there'd be a lot of mercury and cyanide waste in the river. I'm going to try to pan (am I even allowed to pan here?) and if I find gold with stuff stuck to it (mercury or something else) how would I safely store it and bring it back to the USA?

I think that site was mined by the Roman empire and they indeed used Mercury, but I do not believe they used chemical extraction.
So there might be mercury prills down river if its not too far.
Regarding bringing it with you that will be a case for the US and Romanian customs.

 

[goldshark]

It is things like this that I'm trying to find out about. I'm in Romania working for the next two months. I'm down river from the UNESCO world heritage Gold mining site on the Aries river. I would expect that since this a former communist country that there'd be a lot of mercury and cyanide waste in the river. I'm going to try to pan (am I even allowed to pan here?) and if I find gold with stuff stuck to it (mercury or something else) how would I safely store it and bring it back to the USA?

To safely store, a small, or hopefully large amount, a plastic container is the best, over using a glass or metal vial. Put enough water over it so it is covered, whatever attitude the vial is subjected to. Tight fitting lid, obviously.