Mercury Use and Recovering Gold from Amalgam information and questions
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I had the dubious pleasure of working in one of the last active major gold mines that still used mercury amalgam - Peko Wallsend Warrego, near Tennant Creek. I worked in the Gold Room from a couple of months over the 1987 Uni Xmas Holidays.
The walls had a garden retic drip system cascading a film of water down them, the floor was permanently flooded with 15mm water, there was a huge extraction fan and we used to use 70kg buckets of mercury ( about the size of a normal household bucket but solid stainless plate, with an inch of water on top, that we manually tipped into rotating drums of strake table cons. We used these green mercury proof heavy rubber gloves and it was fun shoving your hand in a bucket of mercury and have it snap back at the wrist due to the high flotation force ( 13 x water). We used to get a blood test every 3 weeks & in my short time there 2 ops had to "have a rest" from the gold room for a while. No doubt that if I had stayed longer I would also have "had a rest"".
The retorting room was medieval - it was set partially underground, had iron barred windows & was low & dark and smoky as it also had the diesel fired bar smelting furnace.
Before retorting we used to press the amalgam sponge in a lever pipe press and the free mercury would run out the bottom into a bowl. leaving a grey crumbly cylinder of amalgam. The retort itself was pretty simple - another bit of pipe with a threaded cap. The pressed cylinder was loaded into the pipe & the cap screwed on. There was a a narrow pipe than ran from the cap into a bucket of water on the floor and the mercury just collected under the water in the bucket. Once the retort cooled it was uncapped & the gold powder ( which looked like brass due to high Ag content) was tipped out then smelted into a bar.
Ahh those were the days !
Not sure if any of that actually helps anyone but hopefully someone finds it interesting
The walls had a garden retic drip system cascading a film of water down them, the floor was permanently flooded with 15mm water, there was a huge extraction fan and we used to use 70kg buckets of mercury ( about the size of a normal household bucket but solid stainless plate, with an inch of water on top, that we manually tipped into rotating drums of strake table cons. We used these green mercury proof heavy rubber gloves and it was fun shoving your hand in a bucket of mercury and have it snap back at the wrist due to the high flotation force ( 13 x water). We used to get a blood test every 3 weeks & in my short time there 2 ops had to "have a rest" from the gold room for a while. No doubt that if I had stayed longer I would also have "had a rest"".
The retorting room was medieval - it was set partially underground, had iron barred windows & was low & dark and smoky as it also had the diesel fired bar smelting furnace.
Before retorting we used to press the amalgam sponge in a lever pipe press and the free mercury would run out the bottom into a bowl. leaving a grey crumbly cylinder of amalgam. The retort itself was pretty simple - another bit of pipe with a threaded cap. The pressed cylinder was loaded into the pipe & the cap screwed on. There was a a narrow pipe than ran from the cap into a bucket of water on the floor and the mercury just collected under the water in the bucket. Once the retort cooled it was uncapped & the gold powder ( which looked like brass due to high Ag content) was tipped out then smelted into a bar.
Ahh those were the days !
Not sure if any of that actually helps anyone but hopefully someone finds it interesting
Great info!! Thankyou!
I did a bit of work UG in Tennant back in the day too, but not around mercury.
I think it was White Devil Mine or somewhere I was at???
A long time ago!
The biggest gold room I ever saw was at Granites in the Tanami. Amazing the amount of gold coming off them tables.
Never personally saw Mercury though?
I did a bit of work UG in Tennant back in the day too, but not around mercury.
I think it was White Devil Mine or somewhere I was at???
A long time ago!
The biggest gold room I ever saw was at Granites in the Tanami. Amazing the amount of gold coming off them tables.
Never personally saw Mercury though?
White Devil, Black Angel, Argo, Juno & I think Nobles Knob all fed the Warrego treatment plant. I take my hat off to you doing UG. Tough job, humid & dirty. Well paid but I reckon the guys earnt every cent. I only used to go UG 3-4 times a year with the geos to look at new ore veins & talk about their treatment.
The mercury in the gold room didn't come from the mines - we bought it specifically to do the amalgamation since there was so much coarse gold that it took forever to cyanide & if we didnt take it out before the process it would just settle out everywhere in the plant - mill linings, tank bottoms, pump boxes etc and then get umm "recovered" on night shift
Granites wouldve been cool !
The mercury in the gold room didn't come from the mines - we bought it specifically to do the amalgamation since there was so much coarse gold that it took forever to cyanide & if we didnt take it out before the process it would just settle out everywhere in the plant - mill linings, tank bottoms, pump boxes etc and then get umm "recovered" on night shift
Granites wouldve been cool !
Yeah, I've mentioned it before on here, guys replacing the ball mill plates would be 'showered' on their way out, and the 'shower' water go back into the system!!
Here's some Granites yella.... Fenced off and rock bolted before day shift started!!!
Here's some Granites yella.... Fenced off and rock bolted before day shift started!!!
Very Cool indeed !
Just rereading this thread, and Atom Rat makes a very good point that elemental Mercury is a different proposition to other forms of the stuff. Organic compounds of Mercury can be particularly nasty.
Here is a frightening case study.
Here is a frightening case study.
Good on you Kozi M...I'm glad somebody else asked first as I'm busting to know what it is...all I can make out on the jar is "NIVEA" :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Looks likes a jar of mercury
Could be a time capsule with terminator 2 trapped inside.
If that IS a jar of mercury, handling it is dangerous.
I remember being warned in high school Chemistry class that mercury must only be stored in special heavy duty containers, as its weight can break the bottom out of normal laboratory glass chemical storage jars. I think they used stoneware or porcelain ones, with a narrow mouth to minimise escape of vapour.
In the pic above, it appears that a layer of oil has been added to seal off the mercury from exposure to the atmosphere.
I remember being warned in high school Chemistry class that mercury must only be stored in special heavy duty containers, as its weight can break the bottom out of normal laboratory glass chemical storage jars. I think they used stoneware or porcelain ones, with a narrow mouth to minimise escape of vapour.
In the pic above, it appears that a layer of oil has been added to seal off the mercury from exposure to the atmosphere.
If it is mercury, Google suggests that it is the heaviest elemental liquid and that 2 litres should weigh 27 kg.
Didnt know that!
Didnt know that!
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That looks like Mercury for sure. I wouldn't be too keen on filtering it MT. Be safe!
I watched this video a few years back and I've been terrified of the stuff ever since
I watched this video a few years back and I've been terrified of the stuff ever since
