Amalgamating Gold and the Danger Involved

Amalgamation can be done in a number of ways however the most common technique is by using a regular pan. Around one ounce of mercury is put in a pan along with several pounds of concentrate. The pan then needs to be placed under water and agitated in the same way regular panning is done. When you are no longer able to see free gold in the concentrate, or after you are sure that all the heaviest concentrates have passed over the mercury, the black sands then need to be poured off in the same way, as normal panning would be done. This needs to be done very carefully and you will need to make sure the mercury does not escape over the side when doing this. If you notice the mercury separated during the panning, it usually joins back together. If this is to be done it is suggested to use a copper pan as they are the most efficient at collecting fine gold and will get particles that are too fine to be seen through a six power magnifying glass. If you are working with coarse river gravel you will not be able to do this procedure, but with black sands it does work. The copper pan roughened with emery cloth and it is then rubbed with mercury until it obtains a bright silver surface. Smaller amounts of concentrate then need to be panned over this and the big wide surface will get the gold right away.

After the mercury gathers the gold, it needs to be scraped off with a knife or a similar item. Then fresh mercury needs to be placed inside the pan and the process will need to start again. Mercury is often times used in sluices where it is usually placed in the first riffle so that if it flows over, it gets trapped in the next riffles. The cleaning up process was more common when mercury was used to make sure it did not escape from the sluice. After mercury has gotten all the fine gold in any one of these ways it turns into what is known as an amalgam and needs to be treated to form a button. A button then needs to get treated by a refiner and the result of this treatment is pure gold. Remember: Mercury and the fumes it lets off are poisonous and people have died from inhaling them. If you are going to be doing any sort of heating operation with it, make sure this is done out in the open, that no children are around, and make sure to not inhale the vapor. After you use a pan to vaporize the mercury do not by any means attempt to use the pan for cooking afterwards. When it is heated to its point of evaporation, which is 675 degrees, it will let off a heavy white smoke. However when it is heated to the temperature of boiling water, it will volatize and will give off close to invisible fumes. People have suffered permanent damage because of this and even death due to the fact that they thought the mercury was not vaporizing because they could not see the heavy white smoke.