How to clean gold concentrates using mercury part 2
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Part two - here we show how to finish the process and clean the gold.
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When you get to the part where you take the copper and use it to reclaim the Hg, that process that is taking place is called cementing. What is happening is that your placing a metal at a higher energy state into your acid and it takes that metal in solution and kicks out the lower e state metal. If you are interested to know more look up info on the reactivity series of metals it something every refiner should know by heart. I absolutely love your content thank you so much for taking time to make these videos.
Once again you prove your channel to be the most educational prospecting channel on UA-cam. Thank you.
Thank you.
I 2nd that. Thank you for sharing your knowledge us all.
It never ceases to amaze me how much practical knowledge I get out of your videos. Thanks for taking the time to teach us what it took you a lifetime to learn. Wish I'd meet you back in the 80s.
Thank you very much!
Great video! If you add a piece of iron to your copper nitrate you can recover your copper back as well. The copper will plate on to the iron.
isn it best to cover the proces with Papertowls? Or does this disturb the process please?
Gary, I must say, the videos on using mercury were very good, I remember back in 1981 & 1982 they would have been worth their weight in gold ( pun intended ). I bought a small dredge, all the mining equipment, mercury and anything else that was recommended to me plus a couple of books. I have learned more from your videos than anything or anyone could have ever taught me back then. just a shame that I didn't know you back then. Thanks for sharing your knowledge & the time it took to make the videos, Very much appreciated. John
In the 80's, my store was located in Chico CA. I had a scuba diving and gold mining shop. I gave classes on both! Thank you very much - Gary
Thank You for the great video. The quest for gold on my property has moved me from a placer kind of guy to a quartz hard rocker. I appreciate seeing your process from end to end.
7 Years later. Still very good video. Full of information. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you! Great video Gary. I don't know if I will ever use mercury for my small prospecting hobby but now I know how to properly do it. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Thank you.
Both episodes were truly fascinating. You are a great teacher. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I love UA-cam because of knowledgeable folks like Gary. That was wonderful. Thanks Gary. :)
its great you add bloopers at the end.
Thank you.
Thank you for this very clear explanation. All I knew about it was it's existence. Been looking at videos prior to trying panning for the first time so obviously this is way down the track for me but knowledge is power.
Absolutely fantastic video, Thank you. You broke it down to simple steps and showed us how to be safe about it. Shared with a friend too. Thank you again!
Thank you very much for your educational video. I am very new to the adventure in gold prospecting and I can't thank you enough for your patience in teaching and helping a new guy out with your videos. May God continue to bless you always and give you the strength to keep it up.
You give a mature video for generations to see and learn from. Besides the knowledge to teach all of these wonderful talent's I think your determination and patience are outstanding. All the best to your future findings and health Namaste.
While the gas was coming out of the pan you could see a fly on the right of the table dying from the gas fumes that's some powerful stuff!!!
The out takes are funny. We think you are doing this without any errors.
The old saying - If I had a dollar! The hard part is picking out the best ones - there are so many. Thank you - Gary
Love the bloopers at the end of the video. I know a place that was active in the 1860’s where the Chinese worked the gold out of the sand using copper plates with mercury. There are many piles of tailings left behind from this. I wonder how efficient they were then, if maybe there’s gold in them tailings. or maybe almalgum on the bedrock. It was a very rich area back then.
Thank you sir I have research presentation on mercury and I would like to thank you for your presentation.
Thank you Gary for sharing this part of retrieving the very fine golds left , you've helped me understand better about mercury and its use here and lose my fear of mercury. I'm unsure if I'll ty this step or not but have definitely given me a good education on the dangers and procedures should I decide to pursue the gold down to that extreme. I look forward to more of your educational videos .
"... and you'll always have a little gold in your pan!" LOL! Awesome instructional (and entertaining) videos, Gary! Thanks again!
Gary, saw your method to process and clean gold. In camp, I put my amalgen ball after I squeeze thru cloth, in a frying pan, heat it up and walk away. works a lot easier then nitric and in my opinion a lot safer. When you walk away boiling with nitric those brown fumes are very dangerous. Shake in plastic bottle with cleanser and there you go. Lot faster and safer. Love your series.
Gary: Copper "in solution" is toxic to fish and other living things. Ideally you should put some iron/steel into the solution and let it react for days until the solution is a clearish/brownish color. The copper will drop to the bottom as fine copper metal (powder) and will no longer be in solution and will no longer be toxic. If "down the drain" is a sewage treatment plant, small quantities with copper in solution would be acceptable but if it goes to groundwater or a septic system the copper in solution can kill some of the microbes that process your waste or whatever else it comes into contact with. Copper is used in very small quantity to kill mold in fish tanks but in larger quantities will kill them. The quantities you are dealing with here are very small but if someone was using very large quantities it would matter a lot. Thanks for the great video and for covering safety so well.
Very cool stuff! It took me a couple days to get threw part 1 & 2 I will be trying this process in a few months and will go back threw both parts,I just can't seem remember what happens to the remaining black sands🤔🙂
Thank you for the informative video, I had always wanted to know how mercury is used in gold recovery. My only advice to you and those watching this is to always wear you safety goggles! Mixing an acid and a base can have a violent reaction sending caustic chemicals flying everywhere, better safe than blah blah blah....
I'll say this, you're a very good teacher. Thank you for taking the time to teach us!
I would recommend using Nitrile gloves instead of the Latex one's that you are using. Or some chem proof thicker gloves. Nitrile is much less porous and readily available. Also, that Nitric acid vapor is really toxic and a respirator with the correct filter in it would be an easy addition and add years to your life. But, thank you for showing the basic process that I never quite knew.
Also, what do you do with that fine gold powder after you weigh it? I could see melting it in a crucible with borax and MAP gas to make a button.
Karl what is that gas?
Yes , i agree
Fantastic demonstration on both parts 1 & 2! I always enjoy learning from you!
Thank you.
Thanks Gary! Always look forward to your videos. I learned the hard way about how potent that nitrogen dioxide gas can be! Well, it was actually my coworker who decided to drop a hunk of copper into concentrated nitric acid just a few feet away from me without me knowing. Moments later I got this extreme burning sensation in my nose and lungs almost as if I took a really strong whiff of chlorine...not good! Take care Gary.
thanks, gary...quite the process...i found this very interesting !!!
Thank you!
Awesome video, I will use it for chemistry class. Students can work out safety and reaction equations! Watched both episodes in one go. Great stuff!
Great instructions. I'm not processing anymore and have clean mercury if anyone needs some.
I skipped the acid treatment on recovering my gold out of the Mercury by using a retort I find it's much safer to do that but this is a very good video thank you for making this video for us
Thanks Gary for going through this entire process of cleaning the gold. I hope you have had a great Christmas. ☃️ 🎄
When I was a little boy I’ve heard stories from my grandfather doing this and that should holl the prospector sitting around the fire blowing off Mercer. Blessed with those thoughts from them I am sure glad that I watched your amazing explanation on how to separate mercury from gold I was quite impressed and you’re doing a great job on your videos keep up the good work
Two toes. You're awesome! Great video. I have even more respect for your knowledge than I did before!
Thank you very much.
you do a very good job teaching the public your craft. I want to thank you for your effort.
Sir this is by far the best educational video i have seen to date. Thank you
Hey Gary - you are a gifted teacher, and a generous person for sharing your knowledge with us. By the way - my wife has nicknamed you "Golden Toes" :)
Thanks for showing that process if I ever find gold with mercury on it I will know how to get it off the gold Thanks for sharing
Great video, pretty awesome seeing how the Mercury captures every piece of gold even the microscopic stuff. Thanks again for the video and I hope the weather is getting better up there to start prospecting again.
Thanks!
What a cool process.. I believe thats what my grandfather was doing out on the land.. neat to see someone who knows it still
That's was really interesting. Just started watching your channel a few days ago, its so practical. For many years whenever I've panned off a bit of gold from gravels or crushings from the 'dolly pot', I've panned it off much as I can, then just put the rest in a plastic bottle with some mercury that came out of a busted thermometer years ago. Its all still in there - I just didn't know how to get it back - save from an old trick of putting the amalgam ball into a potato and backing it in a fire. Now I know I'll have to get myself a chamois, and find that bottle! Hopefully its grown over the years!
Thanks and good luck!
This is one time where i'd be glad to put on a mask!! That's wild man! Love the Channel, ! Cheers from Montreal!
LOL..That ending got me laughing ..Great vid SIR..Very educational
I didn't know anything about this process before I watched your video. I am not sure if I would use the process myself but I certainly appreciate your sharing this information. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning more- thank you.
Your neighbors must love you and your gasses. Great channel, just subscribed.
Gary, I really appreciate all the knowledge you share in this video! I have some questions:
- When you mix the Nitric and the Amalgam you use a plastic pan, I wonder if the reaction is exothermic, would it be better to use a Beaker?
- If my concentrate sand also contains Silver and Copper then I suppose when you add Nitric you end with the Gold precipitated and the Silver, Mercury and Copper dissolved in the solution, so I wonder what would happen when you add the Copper bar. Which of the metals precipitates first? Mercury or Silver?
- If you are going to melt the resulting gold do you recommend doing the cleaning process with the coin cleaner anyway? Finally, what is the purity of the gold at the end ?
Regards! Alfredo
I use the black gold pan because the sun heats it up. The warmer it gets the quicker it reacts.
Excellent video and it seems to emphasize the point, " go big or go home ". I love science so that was very interesting. I' ve also watched someone use aqua gia and it looks like a cleaner process.
My father, who is passed away now but was born in 1922, said that it was a common practice for gold assay offices to use a distillation apparatus to reclaim the mercury by boiling it off and then condensing it back to a liquid and it would drip into a collection container to reuse it. This process left the pure gold behind in the "boiling flask" to be collected by the assayer. Do you know much about this process and the equipment used to perform it? Thanks for your help and thank you for making such a detailed and informative video. Wonderful job!
That process is called retorting. If I have a large amount, a half cup or so, I will us the retort. For small amounts I thinks the acid is faster and safer.
Thanks this helps alot, I'll get back with you after I run all my Concentrates. I'm getting ready to go back to Arizona for the winter and I will work on the Concentrates down there.
good stuff I use a retort for recovery I think your way would be good for smaller mounts of gold
I use a copper sheet coated in mercury use in small sluice box with circulation pump so I don"t contaminate rivers was taught to me by old gold miners I am now 60 years old been mining since 12y old will try your way next time enjoy all your videos kept up the the good work
Have you ever heated the mercury in to a vapor and cooled it to catch it and would that leave you with clean gold per say .now when I say heat the mercury I mean by a closed system so vapors don’t go in to the air .in my mind it would work but I have no idea what I’m realy talking about just a theory .great video
I learned a lot .
Yes I have, its called retorting. Works very well but takes a lot more time and is very dangers if not done correctly.
recovery of mercury safely seems to be quite a easy chore this way. i commend you for your attention to this. i myself get sometimes what we call 49 ers gold out of the creek with mercury already on it, a leftover from the goldrush. in the past i would gather it up and insert into a potatoe and throw it in the fire. burns the merc. out. no so good for the environment though.
Great vid Gary very informative !!! I see it can be a little lengthy but it is a great process. Thank you for taking the time to share your Knowledge !!!
Thank you.
Liked the little bloopers at the end lol
excellent informative video. Always wondered how mercury was used to separate gold from the rubbish...
Thank you Gary!.... I appreciate the hard work you do on these videos!.... We used to have a business on Santa Cruz Island and so I also love your fishing videos! .... Good memories!!!
Thank you!
Happy Trails . your my favorite prospector
Thanks, since your video How to separate gold from black sand i was waiting for this one. you are very good for explaining your process. Another great video. Take care
Thank you.
My grandpa used to make those belt buckles. How cool!
Got to love the out takes, glad I checked the notes for the new channel.
And have you ever checked out www.goldprospectorsspace.com/ I think they would love to have you on a radio show.
Thank you!
I just got skooled by uncle sam i liked how the mercury was attracted to the cooper
This was really interesting, wow I could see the fumes coming off that , really enjoyed thanks Gary .
Another great video. Worth the time on the wait. Would you ever consider taking people on a pay by pay basis out on a weekend gold trip. Because I would sign up in a minute. Its a thought.
Its something I have thought about, but I doubt if I would charge for it. But I am going to have to retire first, don't have enough time to get half the things done that I want to do. Thanks - Gary
Your a great teacher gary.
Thank you.
Ron
Another great video. Finally getting some rain in Victoria so we can finally go panning again. Thanks for the inspiration
We have to much rain, I am waiting for the rain to stop so I can go panning. Thank you and good luck!
Great information and thank you for sharing this procedure.
WOW!!!
Very informative and quite the process. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
I have never seen this mercury process before. Thank you for the video. Does this have benefits as opposed to retorting? Excellent video 😉
all your videos are solid imho... thank you ... it has been a while since i did the nitric acid , mercury reaction but if i remember correctly i use to add something to the nitric acid , mercury solution and the mercury precipitated out ... pretty sure it was not copper ... and thank you again
Very well done professor! Informative with focus on safety. Thanks
You videos are always entertaining your knowledge is amazing. I wish I lived next door to you life would never be boring
You wouldn't want to live next to me - my lawn never gets mowed. Thank you very much - Gary
Thanks for the lesson. Very informative
Fascinating stuff, though I really doubt I will ever do this myself. I think I will leave the chemicals, acids, mercury, etc. to you and the pros. Very interesting to see this process though, thanks.
The record rainfall in California (Jan-Mar 2017) is breaking loose some GOOD GOLD. Now isn't that right? Go get some, your pan is waiting. Wished I was there, cause I'm certain the rush will be on. Great stuff, your knowledge and wisdom precedes you. But me, just hiding out in Kansas!
It should be a good year, if the rain ever stops. I had plans to do a little prospecting Saturday - well, it rained! In another 3 to 4 weeks, all this weather should die down, rivers should drop a little. Then the fun can start! Thanks - Gary
Make sure you use distilled water to ensure there are no chlorides. You just wash the material and the pan with it or you will dissolve you're gold too.
Thanks for the great video on mercury use and safety.
I like many others have heard how dangerous it's use was
I am glad to see a way to use it properly.
I am especially happy about the method to recover the mercury and neutralize the other chemicals in use.
My only other method I had heard of, ( and decided not to try) was to fire off the mercury. I was not tempted to try the mad hatter approach.
It seems that most of the process involves being smarter than the rock your sitting on when your are using it.
Thanks again
George
Burning off the mercury is the most dangerous way to go. You cant smell the fumes and it pollutes the area when the mercury cools off and condenses back to a liquid. Thanks - Gary
Great video, I've always wondered how the process worked! Thanks!
Thank you!
Good job again
Wow ty you are thorough and a great teacher with a life time of experience I think. Subscribed :)
The outtakes are great! So are your videos. I've learned a lot from you. How about metal detecting on ground?
Just found your channel last week and binged watched all of your vids... Great stuff! I'm retiring in Texas next year and moving to Auburn, I'd like to pay to go out with you a few times and mine your brain. We have hunting and fishing guides, you should be a gold prospecting guide.
I love these videos, always something to learn here.
Thank you.
That was informative Gary, I always though you were just supposed to heat up the amalgam to evaporate off the mercury. Ya learn something new every day.
You can do it that way, but the fumes are pure mercury and you can't smell them! Another thing I don't like about burning off the mercury, once it cools it condensates back to liquid mercury and contaminates the area your working. Thanks - Gary
@@TwoToes do it outside then
Mr.two toes I made a retort that's safer! Like your videos thanks.
Man, thank you for spreading your valuable knowledge!
I will watch any video you put up, there so easy to follow. Thanx a bunch.
You are to kind - thank you!
Very informative. Thank you for showing us the entire process.
Glad to help. Thanks - Gary
Nicely done the step by step process and PPE was great and well communicated. I would add wearing a certified mask would also be advised.
I live in NW Connecticut and love metal detecting and NOW looking for Glacier gold in brooks and streams. I am looking forward to trying out your methods to see if they will work here. Great Job!
Any thing that will give you more room for error is a great idea. Good luck and thank you.
There is no mask that will protect from nitric acid fumes.
Two days of work, but amazing results!
quite a process, i commend you on your safety.
thank you. simple and clear. good job.
Thank you very much was a great video put everything in layman's terms very easy to understand now where did you get the acid
As always, thank you for sharing your wealth of information. Also, I really like the “blooper” reel at the end. You’re getting better and better at your production ! Cheers! Oh, by the way, I went out prospecting a creek last week following all your guidelines. Sure enough, the gold was right where you said it would be. Being up in the Sierras, ankle deep in cool water, playing with dirt was great in and of itself but that moment of discovery, there’s nothing like it! Again, thank you!!!
The bloopers were fun
Good stuff, I was curious if magnets or some other method was used to seperate black sand from fine gold....turns out both are correct! The things you do for 4 extra bucks :)
wipe the pan with a small piece of wet coffee filter, when you get a bunch you can put them in the crucible.
Awesome videos, very detailed and informative Gary....They say mercury fumes can cause an enlargement of the mustache, so be carefu...uhoh, were too late! ....Just kiddin' brother ;-), thanks for taking the time to make these videos.
lol Thank you!
Good stuff Gary, thanks for sharing mate, always love your video's.
Thank you