Using mercury for Gold recovery

[jojothebarbarian]

I need to know, is there a process that you have to do to 'activate' the mercury to use it? I have mercury and what is flake gold, and it is not absorbing as I am told. I would look on the site, but I am new to everything but the safety on it. Any takes? thanks!

 

[niteliteone]

I would look on the site, but I am new to everything but the safety on it. Any takes? thanks!

would love to help, but I really need to take my dog for a walk :twisted:

 

[slickdogg]

I need to know, is there a process that you have to do to 'activate' the mercury to use it?

This ought to be intresting..... I'm gonna need a bag of popcorn. :lol: :lol:

 

[shaftsinkerawc]

Pretty light on the information of what you are trying to do! Why would you want to mix (poisonous)mercury with your gold?

 

[jojothebarbarian]

Okay, what is the process of activating mercury to recover gold?

i'm trying to recover the gold that i have just 'floating around', such as flake 24k and some from creeks and such

 

[slickdogg]

jojothebarbarian
why are you trying to use mercury???
There are much safer ways to recover!

 

[jimmydolittle]

Try this instead of mercury: http://www.nextstepmining.com/store.html

 

[jojothebarbarian]

ummm i have these things, and flake gold...could someone please just tell me the process?

 

[shaftsinkerawc]

What are "these things"? Where did they come from?
Where did your mercury come from? How dirty is it and what is the contaminate?
How processed are your placer concentrates? What did you use to recover what you have?

 

[Photobacterium]

ummm i have these things, and flake gold...could someone please just tell me the process?

there is a good video about a small Australian gold mining operation on Youtube. they use Amalgam (mercury). they show almost everything in the video, crushing the rocks, mixing the powdered rock with the mercury, evaporating & distilling the mercury, recovering the gold, melting & casting the gold.

 

[Geo]

jojo,

its not that the members are trying to give you the run around, its just the fact that use of mercury in gold recovery is regulated and in many places illegal.

 

[philddreamer]

Jojo, some one onces said: "there's more than one way to skin a cat"!
Well, there's also more than one way to recover &/or refine your gold. Mercury is one of the most hazardous of them all. The old prospectors used the mercury to "capture" the fine gold, then they had to heat it. This produces very toxic fumes that WILL kill you. Many of the old timers didn't get to enjoy their gold.
I highly recommend that you first do some reading thru the forum & learn to do it the safe way.

Take care & be safe!

Phil

 

[butcher]

It worked they plated distilled mercury onto copper plates to recover fine gold, 200 years ago, but it also polluted our rivers, today there is no need at all for mercury in recovery of gold, we have so many better methods nowadays easily available to us, and safe to use.


I will step on the limb here and tell you if you cannot pan the gold in the river, either you need to learn to pan or it is not gold, but fools gold, I can pan gold so fine I can barely even see it, gold is heavy and will go to the bottom of the pan and stay there as I pour of all the other rock and sand, here is a way to test if the flakes you see are gold, and if you know how to pan for gold.

Get three small pieces of lead smaller than a BB, or the tip of a pencil, fill your pan with handfuls of rock gravel and sand, throw in the three tinny pieces of lead, stir them into the pan, now pan this into large tub, when done all you should have in the pan is the three pieces of lead and some black sand (and any gold if there was any in the sand, if you lost your lead, you need to keep practicing until you learn to pan and can keep your lead in the pan and never loose it, the lad is much lighter than the gold.

fools gold pyrite will float around in the pan, normally gold will not float although a very small amount can if you have oils in your pan, a drop of dawn dish soap will stop that if it is a problem, but I will say that is most likely not the problem you see.

forget trying to use mercury, as you can most likely tell by the reaction here your question received, it is not a good idea, forget anything you heard about squeezing through chamois leather, and cooking it out the gold in a potato very foolish indeed, a potato is not safe, a retort is what they should have used, but not too many miners are that smart.
Forget mercury if you already knew about this you would have never asked the question in the first place.

we can discuss some other more modern methods of recovery of fine gold is you wish, but I will not help someone kill themselves or others with mercury. There is just no reason for it in recovery or refining of gold.

 

[jojothebarbarian]

It worked they plated distilled mercury onto copper plates to recover fine gold, 200 years ago, but it also polluted our rivers, today there is no need at all for mercury in recovery of gold, we have so many better methods nowadays easily available to us, and safe to use.


I will step on the limb here and tell you if you cannot pan the gold in the river, either you need to learn to pan or it is not gold, but fools gold, I can pan gold so fine I can barely even see it, gold is heavy and will go to the bottom of the pan and stay there as I pour of all the other rock and sand, here is a way to test if the flakes you see are gold, and if you know how to pan for gold.

Get three small pieces of lead smaller than a BB, or the tip of a pencil, fill your pan with handfuls of rock gravel and sand, throw in the three tinny pieces of lead, stir them into the pan, now pan this into large tub, when done all you should have in the pan is the three pieces of lead and some black sand (and any gold if there was any in the sand, if you lost your lead, you need to keep practicing until you learn to pan and can keep your lead in the pan and never loose it, the lad is much lighter than the gold.

fools gold pyrite will float around in the pan, normally gold will not float although a very small amount can if you have oils in your pan, a drop of dawn dish soap will stop that if it is a problem, but I will say that is most likely not the problem you see.

forget trying to use mercury, as you can most likely tell by the reaction here your question received, it is not a good idea, forget anything you heard about squeezing through chamois leather, and cooking it out the gold in a potato very foolish indeed, a potato is not safe, a retort is what they should have used, but not too many miners are that smart.
Forget mercury if you already knew about this you would have never asked the question in the first place.

we can discuss some other more modern methods of recovery of fine gold is you wish, but I will not help someone kill themselves or others with mercury. There is just no reason for it in recovery or refining of gold.

some is 24k gold flake, i want to collect, supposedly the mercury is going to suck it up, turn it into itself basically, and my mercury does not have that effect, how can i get it?

What are "these things"? Where did they come from?
Where did your mercury come from? How dirty is it and what is the contaminate?
How processed are your placer concentrates? What did you use to recover what you have?

comes from the hospital, these things are gold blue bowl stuff with screens *although i have the smallest darn screens*
and they are claybound, washed cleaned, etc etc to basically hematite/magnetite/powder gold
i used gravity and the concentrates i havent got but so many to a finer state, so i would say all are still pretty heavy with trash....

i'm just wondering how to charge my mercury


I have many glass jars and open air around, no answers to charge it and see if/how the deal works (without using mass portions or putting it on the ground or in the air where not needed)

 

[Geo]

doesn't seem to be anyway to change your mind.there's nothing wrong with the mercury,either its mercury or it isn't.you cant charge it up.the problem is with the gold(if its gold) there's a couple of different reasons mercury will not stick to gold.one reason is the gold is dirty.during the concentrating did you or anyone else put soap on it or oil.here's a couple of fixes.incinerate the material to a dull red heat and keep it there for about an hour stirring the material occasionally and then let it cool.another is to mill it,this also helps breaking the small bits of black sands off the small flakes.if this is placer gold and its been in the water a long time in an area that has alot of foliage, the gold could have a fine layer of tree sap covering it or other organic material and any of this will stop mercury from sticking to it,soap,oil,resin or tree sap.

 

[shaftsinkerawc]

I recommend you do not incinerate any material you have already contaminated with mercury unless you have an appropriate retort and know how to use it safely.

Are you saying that your 24k is recovered from hospital equip? How did you recover it?

 

[Photobacterium]

jojo,

its not that the members are trying to give you the run around, its just the fact that use of mercury in gold recovery is regulated and in many places illegal.

and those are the 'good' points !

mercury usage is a part of the fascinating history of gold mining.

When people want to step right into one of the more dangerous processes, it reminds me of surfing. People paddle out at Pipeline in Hawaii, or Maverick's in California, and are unaware of the severity of the thrashing that comes with the territory.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/near-death-at-pipeline_64662/

/\ A news story about a recent near-drowning at Pipeline. A beginner paddled out, thought he could handle it. Over time, my rule of thumb became, if I can't enjoy the wipe-out, I don't surf the location.

But there the metaphor breaks down. There is no way to 'enjoy' a 'wipe-out' in gold-refining. If you make a mistake with mercury, you're DONE.

In the case of this beginner paddling out at big Pipe, about a dozen people were involved in saving his life.

JoJo, the closest anybody here can come to safeguarding your health is the dozen or so warnings re mercury in this thread. Being there to help you fill out a disability form if you acquire a case of mercury poisoning is the closest anybody can come to helping you, after the fact.

 

[patnor1011]

OP constantly mention flakes... Hope he do not have gold flakes from ebay as there is no gold there. Charging mercury? Never heard of such a thing. The only mercury you can charge is mercury in rechargeable battery. And even then you doi not charge mercury but battery.

Mercury is used to catch fine gold powder like particles, barely visible in naked eye. Not flakes, you can only smear them with mercury which is pointless and just contaminate your gold.

 

[niteliteone]

some is 24k gold flake, i want to collect, supposedly the mercury is going to suck it up, turn it into itself basically, and my mercury does not have that effect, how can i get it?

Sounds like feebay stuff to me.

i'm just wondering how to charge my mercury

The only way I know to charge mercury is with a credit card.

Tom C.

 

[philddreamer]

Mercury that's dirty is "washed" in a diluted acid, thus the outer surface of the mercury is clean & able to produce an almalgam.
The vapors from the mixing of the mercury & "the acid" are EXTREMELY TOXIC!!!

Also keep in mind that mercury also amalgamates with silver, copper & lead, & that you would have to deal with these contaminates, too!

When I was in Jr. High, we had a fellow student that got hold of mercury. Back then, 1962, anyone could buy it at a drug store. So, it was awesome playing with the mercury, & coating the silver coins with it & making them shiny. Some gold rings were "ruined", because they became coated with mercury. Then one day, the warning came to ALL the students to stop playing with mercury IMMIDIATELY! During the weekend, a few students got very ill & one had died of mercury poisoning.

As far as I'm concerned, I have no use for mercury.

Take care & be safe!

Phil