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Can you tell me how can I use mercury to separate gold from other surpstands.
Douglas S 
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
emergency service co. - Holly, Michigan
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 is a disgrace. Obviously, 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. The process should be done by experienced professionals with proper facilities rather than by amateurs in front of a kitchen exhaust fan!
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 Ted Mooney 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
- 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
- RC, California,
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
volcanoes. Therefore, your milligrams worth of mercury is nothing to
worry about.
Let us know how you make out.
William Heap
- Cary, North Carolina
+++++++
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, California
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
August 6, 2008
uncle saved gold by mixing with mercury need to separate.
jay field
- Charles city, Iowa
August 22, 2008
GOT MERCURY ON MY RING. IS IT OK TO WEAR?
DON WILSON
- NASHVILLE, Tennessee
Hi, Don. I wouldn't.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
I broke an old thermometer with mercury and my gold ring turned completely silver.....
char buison
- Houston, Texas
i had a similar accident in a lab. a little drop of mercury landed on my gold ring and within a few minutes the entire surface of the ring got coated with mercury. i obviously panicked and approached the chemistry professor of my school for advice. he calmly took the ring from me and dipped it in an acid (not sure which kind). all of the mercury disappeared within no time and i was unable to notice any discoloration or other blemishes on the ring thereafter. this technique in my opinion is safer to the metal as well as health.
moulin patel
- new jersey
March 6, 2009
Hi
My wife's Gold ring was getting discolored and getting patches of
white color on it. We were wondering what must be the reason. When we
checked her bag, traces of mercury was observed in her bag. The gold
jeweler told us its because of the mercury.
Does mercury changes the color of Gold from yellow to white?
What is the remedial action when it has become white?
How to completely remove the mercury from the bag?
Thanks,
Deepak
Deepak Kumar
buyer - Bangalore, Karnataka, India
I dropped mercury on my gold ring for the second time :( , here in India they use 100 % coconut oil to revive the Gold , didn't believe my grandma !! however tried it and it works trust me it does , all you have to do is drop it in coconut oil and boil for a 2 mins or more ..... but do take some precautions when you try it and MERCURY IS EXTREMELY DEADLY !!
anusha raj
- India opt
The coconut oil remedy works perfect. Placed my wedding ring in the spoonful of coconut oil and heated the oil. Did not work in the first attempt with 100% results. Achieved it in the second one. Kudos to your Grandma :)
Pushkaraj Wagh
- Bangalore, India
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August 13, 2009 Hi, I have an 18 carat yellow gold and platinum ring. I broke a thermometer the other day and removed the mercury, toughing it with a paper towel. One 18 karat yellow gold ring turned slightly silver on the back side and my other ring, also 18 karat gold turned entirely a dull matte silver color. I have tried polishing it with a polish cloth and even with a Dremel and jewelers polish, it is still silver color but now polished. Any ideas to get the yellow gold color back in my 18 Karat yellow gold ring??? baffled and bummed. thanks Kendra Schofield
September 24, 2009 I did this experiment, I had a thermometer to throw, so I
took out mercury and touched my ring to it :), by then i
didn't read this page, as how difficult it is to take it off
:) Anurag
Chitlangia
My wedding ring is 14K yellow gold however, the other day
it turned a silver color.I was researching your site for a
reason when I noticed a reply on March 31,2008 you wrote to
a gentleman who said he had broken a thermometer. YOU
EXPLAINED TO HIM HE WAS LUCKY BECAUSE MERCURY WILL RUIN YOUR
RING! Rose Hazelwood
October 23, 2009 Hi, Rose. Mercury forms a stable amalgam with gold. I have heard of cases where the exposure to mercury was so low that the ring turned back to gold, as the mercury diffused in, but don't count on it, and you don't want to wear a toxic material like mercury. Take it to a jeweler to see if he will drive the mercury out. If not, you will have to decide whether you want to follow the instructions that others have offered. Good luck. Regards,
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