Mercury Use and Recovering Gold from Amalgam information and questions

[dwt]

Does anyone know if that Toxic Vapor stays active in the breeze....? I dont want it to travel down the road potentionaly killing school kids..goats..chooks....maby the odd trapper!

Dilution mate, parts per million, and all that,
I do have to say the EPA mightn't be to happy about what our "Senior Citizen" prospectors have been up to!!! :lol:
bad, BAD, ju, ju, I wouldn't be surprised if the 'ju ju' comes back at you fellows in the form of a cracked hip, or loss of reading glasses, even maybe as far as the cancellation of Friday night bingo, naughty boys

 

[Marked]

Does anyone know if that Toxic Vapor stays active in the breeze....? I dont want it to travel down the road potentionaly killing school kids..goats..chooks....maby the odd trapper!

As soon as it cools it should recondense to a liquid and drop out fairly quickly I would imagine ... as dwt says, the concentration cooked of a few flakes shouldn't cause any issues - but this IS a topic that has seen very polarised opinions shared previously so I am certain someone will beg to differ ...

 

[Jaros]

Oh my God, they could even consider speed limiting mobility scooters. Heaven forbid. I wonder if they have made a 4WD version for the disabled prospector??? You know with cruise control for slow speed swinging???
Jaros HEHEHE!!!

Sorry to hijack the thread for a second of humour.
:lol: :lol:

 

[Diggertom]

Yea it's only a half gram of gold I'm guessing so i would say it's well under .05 grams of mercury, probably a whole lot less.

Cool thing I did find yesterday was it's like a gold nugget, but they say it's gold slag. Weights .48
I'll insert a pic next time I'm in town, no service here in eldorado

 

[casper]

Does anyone know if that Toxic Vapor stays active in the breeze....? I dont want it to travel down the road potentionaly killing school kids..goats..chooks....maby the odd trapper!

Dilution mate, parts per million, and all that,
I do have to say the EPA mightn't be to happy about what our "Senior Citizen" prospectors have been up to!!! :lol:
bad, BAD, ju, ju, I wouldn't be surprised if the 'ju ju' comes back at you fellows in the form of a cracked hip, or loss of reading glasses, even maybe as far as the cancellation of Friday night bingo, naughty boys

:8 sorry

 

[yobskin]

Where did that thread go!!!
Ba-haha hahaha jaros they must have you on some good meds?

If it condenses back to liquid shouldnt you keep it? Whats the $ on mercury these days? Im getting magnesium too??

 

[Tathradj]

Do the potato one.
Still a bit dangerous but better than letting this stuff into the open air.
.
Get a potato then cut it in half.
Hollow out a small section.
put your gold infected mercury into it and seal it with tooth picks around the outside.
Wrap with alfoil then cook it in a fire.
Don't pierce the alfoil.
Take the spud out in the alfoil AND LET IT COOL DOWN until cold before opening the alfoil.
When you open it retrieve your clean gold then bury the spud and all the associated stuff as deep as you can.

 

[KarlS]

Do the potato one.
Still a bit dangerous but better than letting this stuff into the open air.
.
Get a potato then cut it in half.
Hollow out a small section.
put your gold infected mercury into it and seal it with tooth picks around the outside.
Wrap with alfoil then cook it in a fire.
Don't pierce the alfoil.
Take the spud out in the alfoil AND LET IT COOL DOWN until cold before opening the alfoil.
When you open it retrieve your clean gold then bury the spud and all the associated stuff as deep as you can.

That's exactly what I n was going to suggest. But you beat me to it.
Karl

 

[yobskin]

Isnt that called irish prospecting???

 

[Moneybox]

I think they've been doing that in China for centuries and now they're selling us the veggies.. :lol:

 

[AtomRat]

Restricted hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods use or discussion isn't endorsed by Forum Management. Individuals using any hazardous chemicals/dangerous goods do so at their own risk/s and need to ensure their own legislative compliance.

Hey guys, been nearly two years of reading about mercury and its use for prospecting and will use it to collect the fines from my con's using a tumbler / ball mill.

Just wondering if anyone else uses it to share some info.

There's still some uncertainties I have with using the Hg, like how much can dissolve into H20 using the retort method and if it does, how to extract the remaining Hg or how to get rid of it.

These may be the issues why its recommended not to be used. I think a certain percentage contaminates water but I need help with the answer on that.

If mercury coagulates from particles and will always form a solid then its not a worry, but when Hg is in gas form, does it penetrate water differently with its salts.

I don't want to pollute waterways or expose myself and family to it, just getting as much info to attempt it with minimal or no exposure.

Unfortunately I've already been very exposed to mercury when I was younger, probably why I smile so much :S

 

[TheSilentBugler]

I'll scan a couple pages from an old popular mechanics almanac I have, some practical useful stuff there.

 

[AtomRat]

Cheers. Basically i just want to know if the water gets contaminated or not. Like a nuke reactor and then having to dispose the water correctly.

 

[shivan]

G'day AtomRat, i have done a little retorting. Elemental Hg is stable and non soluble in water so no worries of contaminating the water, though i still do not pour water that has been in contact with HG down the sink, but water the grass out the back.

 

[AtomRat]

Excellent shivan, that's all I needed to know. Thank you.

I've been collecting thermostats for a while now

 

[Marked]

You are a brave man posting about this here - get ready to duck when all the panic merchants start to post. There have been several previous posts on the subject where some useful information was shared between all the dire warnings of armageddon .. the search function is your friend.

 

[trinescape]

anybody else had it turn up in a gold pan when getting down too the fines ?

 

[DropBear]

anybody else had it turn up in a gold pan when getting down too the fines ?

I have yeah... its not nice to see in the pan

 

[TheSilentBugler]

I'd enjoy seeing it, means you're likely onto something. Remember, any mercury you find could contain treasures.

I forgot I'd promised a scan here, added the next couple of pages too, from a 1937 popular mechanics shop notes, thought the other pages might be of interest too, brilliant books these.

 

[Shingles]

Interesting sb. Love those old articles!