Letter 13044

Separating mercury from gold jewelry 

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I got mercury from a broken thermometer on my gold wedding ring, and it bonded to the gold. Jewelers won't touch it. I asked a chemist in my area what to do. He suggested silver cleaner which didn't work. I'm obviously not a science expert; I'm an elementary school teacher. I've done some reading about nitric acid. Can I put my ring into plain nitric acid and separate the mercury from the gold? Any other piece of jewelry would be replaceable, but my wedding ring means far too much for me to replace it. I'm afraid to wear it with the mercury still on it. I don't know what to do. Can you help me?

Thank you,

Nancy W [name deleted for privacy]
- Fitchburg, MA, USA

Hi Ms.Wilson,

Your reading is right about nitric acid you can also give heat at your home to that ring, but after heating or putting in nitric acid you have to clean(polish) the ring.

Good luck,

Dipen Pattni
jeweler/goldsmith - Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania

The mercury will migrate into the gold similar to a splash of water migrating into dry wood. You will need to autoclave (outside extraction!) the ring at a temperature above the boiling point of mercury and below the softening point of gold (to be safe I would recommend at least 3 days).

John Tuohy
- Ireland

Nancy, just like you, I broke a thermometer yesterday and my wedding rings turned silver in color. I have not talked to my jeweler yet, (who is a good friend of mine).

I told my husband about the rings and he tried to clean the rings in our jewelry cleaner. Big mistake, because my husband put some other gold jewelry in with it and now every thing in it is silver.

What I did do is this. I started my propane burner and boiled a pot of water. Mercury evaporates into a vapor and into the air. Boiling mercury is toxic because the vapors can go into the air and be breathed into the lungs. Gold miners used mercury to pan for gold. Then they would boil the mercury off the gold and tumble it. I was told there isn't a significant amount of mercury on the rings but wear a face mask the you can buy in the medical dept at walmart.

My husband and I boiled a couple pieces of pieces last night, to experiment with, for about an hour and they look like brass that needs to be shined. Before I do my rings I am going to talk to my friend to see if he will extract the stones before I boil it. My neighbor said I could put my rings in his tumbler (Used to polish brass gun shells for those who reload their own bullets). I can keep you in touch with what happens after wards. I just got married a couple months ago and like you, my rings mean a lot.

Sorry if this seems a little scattered. I read your question and was able to relate. It is a shame to think there isn't any jeweler who can help.

Dawn W [name deleted for privacy]
- Morehead City, NC

While working in my company testing for heaters mercury fell on my ring and it has turned silvery..I was crying a lot for it since that is my lucky ring,I don't know wt to do so searching on net for some help.. please guide me..

Ammu [name deleted for privacy]
- India

Please don't do that, Dawn! Gaseous mercury is incredibly poisonous, and I very seriously doubt whether a face mask offers any real protection. I thought the government was in overkill mode in banning mercury thermometers, but your posting shows me wherein the real danger of mercury thermometers lies. Ammu, same advice, if a professional can't safely fix it, an amateur certainly can't.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

Can you tell me how can I use mercury to separate gold from other surpstands.

Douglas S [name deleted for privacy]
Department of Mining - Papua, New Guinea

Like you,while we were on a job, we found a broken thermometer,so we quickly cleaned it up and the mercury spill from the broken thermometer, and I to had it attract and go on to rings ,my wedding rings, and 15 year anniversary ring, before having a chance to get the gloves on. On my wedding rings, the mercury ate the gold and my ring just fell off my hand, my anniversary ring turned silver, and started cracking,we pulled out a deactivating kit to clean my rings like we do in most emergency cases we do for work and sealed them in the bags,because if they get to warm they will send off fumes,even with the heat of the sun, to which ARE DANGEROUS and can cause serious health affects. after several days my wedding bands started falling apart in the bag. My rings to are very important to me since I have had them for over 20 years. I took my rings in the sealed bags to 6 jewelers hoping someone could help me. EVERYONE said no, when mercury is heated, even when it is boiled, it causes fumes and a health risk. You can get further information on the department of health and human services website www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mercmetal5.html.GOOD LUCK.jmk

Janet K [name deleted for privacy]
emergency service co. - Holly, Michigan, USA

Thank you for that sobering link, Janet. Doing some web searches I see some jewelry suppliers in England who will repair this mercury damage, but I've found none in the USA.

If anyone knows of such a service, please advise because a lack of stewardship by the jewelry industry would be a toxic disgrace. Obviously, some people will attempt to save their priceless heirlooms no matter how profound the personal and environmental risk--by definition desperate people will take desperate chances if not offered an alternative. The process should be done by experienced professionals with proper facilities rather than by clueless amateurs risking their lives in front of a kitchen exhaust fan!

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

While I was changing the bladder of blood pressure measuring instrument some mercury accidentally felt over an gold ring and slowly its colour changed to silver then after 24 hours it got back to its original colour but I am afraid whether some amount of gold is lost in the reaction.

MAYUR P [name deleted for privacy]
- Indore, M.P., India

Surprised to find this page. This too, happened to my wedding rings several years ago. I've kept them but after reading this, I guess I need to keep the diamond and??? throw away the bands? Is that the only safe thing to do?

Thanks,

Carol L [name deleted for privacy]
- RC, California, USA

Your problem can be solved easily by heating the affected area with a butane lighter. The ones with the blue flame would be best. The mercury which has dissolved the gold and other metals to form an amalgam will boil off leaving the original metals as they were originally. However, if in the process when the gold was dissolved, it's shape was changed, correcting that would be a separate problem.

It has been noted that the fumes from the mercury vapor are dangerous. While this is true, if proper care is taken, the risks are minute. The amount of mercury on the ring is very small. You should be able to avoid breathing the mercury vapor if you heat the ring outside and do it upwind. Use a piece of wire or coat hanger to hold the ring while you heat it. Also, you may try to hold you breath for 20 seconds or so while heating. Reheat until complete.

Some people will try to scare you to think that you will drop dead from this exercise. Well consider that alluvial gold miners heat mercury gold amalgam every day with little protection. During a recent study of miners in Indonesia, the study results were surprised by the low levels are mercury found in the miners blood. I think if you do it one time, you should be able to avoid exposure. Just to be safe, don't do it if your pregnant. Give the job to your hubby.

Oh gosh, what about polluting the environment with the fumes? Well again, that is of no significance to the environment. According to the EPA, the USA coal industry releases about 157 TONS of mercury into the air every year (1998 data). Even still, nearly half of mercury in the atmosphere is released by natural processes such as volcanos. Therefore, your milligrams worth of mercury is nothing to worry about.

Let us know how you make out.

William Heap
- Cary, NC, USA

Hi I've read this very interesting blog. I also have mercury on my 5 rings after the thermometer broke, but decided they can stay silver after I have tried everything possible to get the gold back.
Will it be dangerous to wear the rings?
Thank you

marianne wiltshire
- Johannesburg South Africa

Basic Chemistry folks: Mercury coating Gold ---> mercury & O2 + heat ----> Mercury oxide, a stable stable compound and you just polish it off the inert Gold with whatever you favor.

Like most of you I was playing with a thermometer and got mercury on my wedding ring I've been wearing for 20 years... so it was kind of important to get it off, but the more I polished the more I heated and moved the mercury around and it never came off.

To get it off I finally just bent a cloths hanger leaving the bent part in place to put my ring on. I then turned on the good old LP kitchen stove and heated the ring to a dull red, took it out of the flame and let it smoke a bit. When it stopped.

smoking I put it back in. I did this over and over seven or eight times until the entire ring was a dull black (mercury oxide).

Then it was just a matter of polishing the stable form of mercury off of the inert gold. I haven't used my polishing rouge yet but Crest and a sponge does a pretty good job until I have time to use the rouge and make it mirror bright

Alan Renner
- Sacramento

I read where you cut a spud in half, hollow it out to the size of the amalgam (rings?), then tie the halves together with a piece of wire. Chuck it into a fire and let it bake. After awhile, fish it out and remove the gold/rings. To recover the mercury, bake it some more (to charcoal I presume), then crush and mix with water in your panning dish. I guess the flesh of the spud must trap the mercury. Sounds good to me.

Graham Blowes
- Melbourne, Australia

uncle saved gold by mixing with mercury need to seperate.

jay field
none - charles city ia

GOT MERCURY ON MY RING. IS IT OK TO WEAR?

DON WILSON
WORK - NASHVILLE, TN, USA

Hi, Don. I wouldn't.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. 
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

I broke an old thermometer with mercury and my gold ring turned completely silver.....

char buison
- houston, tx usa

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