A Simple Retort For Separating Gold-mercury Amalgam

How to make and use a simple retort for separating gold-mercury amalgam. Yes there have been so many post about the dangers of mercury and all that has been said is true and then some. But at days end people will still use mercury. The attached PDF link will show you how to make a simple retort, when I showed a mate he reminded me of the Warning below. Follow the advice given to me below and the retort will work fine.

Before distillation, you should sprinkle the bottom of the retort with a layer talc. So that the gold does not stick to the bottom of the retort following distillation. In no case should greasy or fatty substances be used.

WARNING! This model is not correct ! NEVER LET THE DRAIN PIPE TOUCH THE WATER AT THE BOTTOM ! Use a piece of cloth ,weted, and let the mercury dribble down this into the water cup. The reason for this is because as the temp reduces it will draw water back up into the chamber with the gold and will turn to steam! In all types of retorts, extra care must be taken that fittings, valves or closures are air-tight.

© 2012

PDF DOWNLOAD to make and use a simple retort for separating gold-mercury amalgam.

http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/mercury_retort.pdf

By Edmund Bugnosen, Published by Practical Action on 02/02/07

The mate that told you that it is critically dangerous to put the open end of a closed retort under water is 100% correct.

Follow the "All About Mercury" link to get some top notch information from Dr. Ken Williams.

http://webpages.charter.net/kwilliams00/bcftp/bcftp.htm

you'l get in the whohar for that one

I still know many folk who use merc, yet they don't post or reply for fear of being ridiculed over the use of said stuff

Whiskers I keep seeing Sylvester the cat

Great to see this part of the forum re-activated

Cheers
Chris.

Joe, I like this part from the link you provided!

If any one of you feel that you have a problem with heavy metal poisoning, hair loss, loose teeth, kidney damage, muscle tremors etc please have a check for heavy metal intoxication. It’s simple and inexpensive. If you have a problem there is a treatment which involves infusing EDTA (ethylene diamine tetracetic acid) into your blood. This is a treatment known as "chelation" and it will very effectively remove the heavy metals from your system.

KAEOJ wrote:The mate that told you that it is critically dangerous to put the open end of a closed retort under water is 100% correct.

Follow the "All About Mercury" link to get some top notch information from Dr. Ken Williams.

http://webpages.charter.net/kwilliams00/bcftp/bcftp.htm

Top site thanks Joe.

someday wrote: I keep seeing Sylvester the cat

LOL Someday ya clown LOL What you say is so true there are many people who still use merc. It is by far better to show them the proper way to use the stuff than have people stumbling around in the dark. In the long run it is much safer for everyone.
James.

Some interesting stuff.
Here is a different sort of retort but seems simple to make and use. The videos goes through the whole process too.

Well thats different
Not to sure I like either heating method tho!

Nice find Ian

That capped pipe sitting in water idea does have merit - in that even if all heat is removed from the active heating area it won't draw a small amount of water into the heat chamber.

A hand grenade is a bad thing, eh?

This design has the advantage that even with all heat removed there isn't enough vacuum to make a grenade.

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A thought on Whisker's post:

"It is by far better to show them the proper way to use the stuff than have people stumbling around in the dark. In the long run it is much safer for everyone."

I also agree 100% with this. The more that safe handling techniques are presented to the mining community the less danger results from lack of knowledge.