rookie need help..

[marifz]

Thanks for feedback mr Dave.
Actually the gold was melted down using butane torch and crucible with borax as flux. After finish melting i put hot gold button into nitric acid solution.
I think it was mercury..i already melt down so many times, cooked my gold button in nitric acid...and it still there! Last night after searching internet i realize it was mercury. Its covered all my gold dust with white metallic colour in small quantity and now contaminate 4.5g gold button. What should i do to remove it? I already use sand paper and it still the same.

Thank you

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Please experts tell me how to remove quicksilver from my gold button. Im positive it was quicksilver used by other miners long time ago. I already used nitric acid and result is still the same. Is it posible if im using sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide?...

Tq very much...

I'm a little confused by your question. You asked how to remove quicksilver (mercury) from your gold button. When we talk about gold buttons, we mean gold that has been melted in a melting dish or a crucible and allowed to cool just until it hardens, then removing it from the dish or crucible. Is this what you mean? If so, any mercury should have boiled off into fumes. This is very hazardous!

You also say you've used nitric acid. How did you use it? Did you just soak placer gold flakes in nitric acid? Was it cold or hot?

You also mention sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide. This is a very dangerous combination. How did you use it?

Why are you positive you have mercury in your gold? Have you had it tested somehow? Is it because of the appearance of the gold?

If you can give us more information, we may be able to give you some advice. Pictures of your gold might also be helpful.

One last thing. We don't allow the use of text lingo on the forum, so please don't use shortcuts like Tq. Our members are from all over the world, and many have to use translation software to read the forum. Text lingo does not translate well.

Dave

 

[Lino1406]

Mercury with gold make amalgam

 

[Justincase]

Did you say it melted with just a butane torch and no oxygen?
That would mean it was an alloy with a low melting point.
I would think if it had been melted that there would be no particles exhibiting a transitional state or boundary layer.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

marifz, please read the forum rules. Do NOT edit your posts unless it is to correct minor mistakes like spelling or grammar errors. I see you have now edited your post 3 times, completely changing what you originally wrote. If it weren't for the part of your post that I quoted, we would have no idea what you originally wrote, and the responses you receive no longer make sense.

If you have more information, add another post to the thread.

Dave

 

[imp.hacene]

I'll give you simple and easy solution , gold mixed with mercury the solution is just boil it in coconut oil....peace

 

[4metals]

An old miners trick is to take the mercury and amalgam and take a potato ,cut it in half and scoop out a depression big enough for the amalgam and gold. Place the amalgam gold mix in the depression, put the 2 halves of the potato back together and wrap the spud in tin foil. Bake it for 45 minutes in a campfire.

When you open up the potato, the mercury will have been absorbed by the potato and the gold will be in the depression.

Do not eat the potato!

This only works on amalgam which has not been melted, as you melted yours, you likely passed off the mercury as a toxic mercury fume.

 

[Geo]

4metals beat me to it. I found a nugget of metal in some concentrates my father brought back from Arizona once. The nugget was silver colored. I used a knife and found it was quite soft with a yellow tint. At the time, I had no practical knowledge of metals. I was 24 or 25 years old. I decided on a whim to heat the nugget to see if it would melt being it was soft. Lead came to mind first. I placed it in an old cast iron skillet and began heating it with a torch. Before it could reach the melt temperature of lead, it began smoking and turned the most beautiful golden color you have ever seen. I later realized what it must have been. I asked my father if he had put mercury in the bucket. He said he didn't but his partner could have before they left coming back. The vibration of the road must have caused the mercury to settle and collect the fine gold dust. The nugget was solid and not brittle. Based on my experience now, it could have easily been over an ounce. My father was surprised. He said he and his partner had removed all the gold from the dirt and I could do what I wanted with it. Of coarse I gave the gold to him.