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Recovering Gold from Mercury

Hello, I'm Shawn
I have some Mercury that a relative left that was in mining for +-20 yrs. I am familiar with evaporating the metal off but I would like to (1) recover the mercury/ be environmentally friendly (2) reduce processing and exposure (3)not have to dig to deep into equipment? Is distilling the best way? Any home remedies ?

Respectfully,
Shawn

Timothy Parker
- San Antonio, Texas, USA
August 15, 2008

In the old days, they just burned (vaporized) the mercury off.
That is extremely hazardous to do. Distillation with a proper set up would minimize the problem. You will need a very good cold sink, and possibly two coils in tandem, circulating cold (ice) water. Get a MSDS on mercury , read it until you understand all of it before you buy anything. Glass is probably the best way to go. It boils at 356C, but will slowly vaporize at a lower temp. The remaining sludge will contain some mercury, so it would be best to send it off to a professional for the smelting. The mercury that you recover is valuable also. finding a willing buyer and legal shipping will be a problem.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
August 20, 2008

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