Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1958451, member: 66&quot;]That was why mercury was used in gold mining.&nbsp; For placer mining mercury would be put in the baffles of the sluice boxes.&nbsp; Its weight would keep it in place as the water flowed over it but as the gold dust and small flakes came into contact with it they would be attached and dissolved into the amalgam.&nbsp; With hard rock mining the rock would be crushed to a powder and mixed with the mercury.&nbsp; The mercury wouldn&#039;t attach to the rock but it would pickup any powdered gold released. (For even more complete gold recover the powder would be boiled in a sodium cyanide solution which leached the rest of the gold out of the rock.)&nbsp; When the amalgam has absorbed all the gold it can it would be taken away and heated to drive off the mercury leaving the gold behind.&nbsp; In large operations the mercury vapor would be condensed to recover the mercury for reuse.&nbsp; The small placer operations often just heated the amalgam in an open container and let the mercury escape&nbsp; (and were often poisoned by the mercury fumes)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in