Dirty Mercury

Hi got some mercury a year or so ago.  I bought it off a guy but it's dirty.  It has like metal dust in it.  I tried to use it on my gold but it had so much crud in it the gold didn't stick.  How can I clean the mercury to use it. THanks MIKE "Good luck trying to find gold in Maryland"

action mining supplies a kit for cleaning/charging sickened mercury.if you have some experience handling mercury and/or caustic substances,you can usually use a sodium hydroxide solution to revive soured mercury.but use extreme caution.always outdoors,away from people/pets.start with a weak solution,lukewarm helps,increase the strenght gradually as necessary.sodium hydroxide(lye)is easily obtained in a powder form.do not pour it into water,gently place it there with a plastic spoon,if it puffs into dust,dont breathe any,or get in eyes.increase strenght,soak time as needed to fully revive the hg.most hardware stores have red devil lye.thick rubber gloves,eye protection,respirator(at least a dust mask)cheap insurance.if unsure about any of this,dont do it.lotsa help around here. :coffee2:good huntin

Please send that dirty mercury to patches or me and we'll clean all that nasty metal outta there for free, for just the metal in the solution and how much volume do you have?? Should be copper/gold/silver/brass/bronze??     A cotton ball in a funnel and pour on through in a cool place under 70 degrees and the EPA now mandates glycerine on top of the mercury-used to be water to cap it off but I was told changed now-environutz!!! Can't live with them and can't shoot'm--John

yep,can even send it freight collect,will be returned free.shiny,clean,and electro charged to just grab yer flourgold right outteryerpan.dont tell anyone,as illegal to mail hg.mercury does start dissipating somehow into the air at room temp.nothing you would notice.except in long term blood test.dont keep in house.i always see it in glass jars.that is risky.if thats all there is,wrap jar in padding of some sort.and store it securely away from living quarters.luck.

Yep. FOLLOW ALL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS when handling mercury!!!!! If you can get your hands onto a large syringe, pull out the plungy thing, place a damp cotton ball inside & down to the end, pack it down with the plungy thing, take plungy thing back out, put in some mercury, put plungy thing back in & slowly push down forcing the mercury to filter slowly through the cotton ball & drip into a jar of water.

JW

Hi Guys, I seen on the GPAA form someone was telling how to clean mercury with a 9v battery and to coppers wires. But went to see if i could find it again and can,t. If anyone can find it, i would like it myself.  Thanks  Dean

mike,how goes the hg cleanup?was just browsing action mining pdf catalog,refreshed myself on their line of related stuff.pretty inexpensive really.cleaning/charging chems. a nice electro-static amalgamator,air press etc. and for 30.00 a book covering all aspects of this subject.actionminingservices.com   pdf catalog pages 26-28 or 530-826-9330.best all round source ive seen.

You can put your mercury into nitric acid. The nitric acid will dissolve the mercury and drop the gold out of it, that is if there is any gold in the mercury. Then you drain the nitric acid into another container and rinse your gold with water to clean off the nitric acid. Then finally you place some aluminum into the nitric acid which will drop your mercury and you rinse off your clean mercury and then you neutralize your nitric acid to dispose of it. I think these are the steps that will clean your mercury with acid, or you could just use a retort.

I hope this helps.
BlueDeer

YOU PUT NITRIC ONTO MERCURY AND YOU PUT ACIDS INTO WATER-LAB RULES SO YA DON'T GET A big SURPRISE-TONS A AU 2 U 2-oops-sorry cps(hands numb from rock chuking and cold water)-John

tons a au 2 u 2  :thumbsup:i'm sure u 2 can get all the au they want.i'll take thier share .hey john next time don't get so cccooolllddd.last time i went i froze my butt off ,feet and hands turned blue-numb -hurting real bad.got wet from head to toe.took a long time to get over it.be carefull theres a fine line from numb to hypo thermia...  keep it up      and as always  STICK IT TO THE MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7ml suit,new hood,new diving gloves(dipped in tool coat)diving booties,no brains and I'm good to go. When properly attired it's not that bad--heck on the MF American we had to remove the oil from the engines at night and warm inside truck on way to dredge to even have it turn over. Nothing like cracking the ice off the dredge in the morning as the mist is a rising and hitting the rays a light surrounded by hundreds of mini rainbows--now who says mother nature don't rock!!!Been colder--but NEVER older--definately a addict    --no 2 ways about it-John 

man,you are tougher than i am!!!!! i'm originally from Fla.and cold hits me hard!i have to wait for a little warmer weather ! i have the wetsuits,gloves and head gear etc...but chipping ice to dredge ain't happening !!!!!!!!!!!!!good luck.----now they are saying more cold on the way.

Here's some good info including cleaning old mercury:

http://www.ilpi.com/safety/mercury.html

7ml suit,new hood,new diving gloves(dipped in tool coat)diving booties,no brains and I'm good to go. When properly attired it's not that bad--heck on the MF American we had to remove the oil from the engines at night and warm inside truck on way to dredge to even have it turn over. Nothing like cracking the ice off the dredge in the morning as the mist is a rising and hitting the rays a light surrounded by hundreds of mini rainbows--now who says mother nature don't rock!!!Been colder--but NEVER older--definately a addict    --no 2 ways about it-John  

Hello Hoser and Strickman, I'm feeling sorry for you guys being so cold. I'm sure you've tried a hot water system. If not you don't know what your missing. Never cold. I made my own. It is pretty simple, but you must make sure your mounting for it is strong. I wear a one piece 1/8 wetsuit and I get hot. Good Luck.  Jimmygoat

i don't have a heater yet---i am trying to get a newer set up ,3"or 4" with air-then i'll make one.familiar with the ins and outs,just don't need the extra weight on my current set up.i have an after market motor and pump-way to heavy,works great but had to modify pontoon set up to float right.can't wait to get a new one.     sorry to get off topic,scv mike-be x-tra carefull with your mercury venture.please thoroughly research,before attemting.or better yet get someone with knowledge.and keep mercury coated gold separate from clean gold.i swear it will grow!that stuff is amazing how a very little bit will get all over everything.