Does anyone used Mercury these days? Is 1/2litre of any value?
Hey there…I use Hg but only in small amounts at any one time , using a retort I built after a lot of research, I had 600 grams of the stuff and gave most of it away as you really only need a few ounces and the retort gets 98% of it back for you with the bonus of positively charging the stuff making it more conducive to amalgamating gold. It has no value here in NZ, not even sure if you really allowed to do any thing with it…best look into that…best value was getting rid of the excess stuff as it is very dangerous and messy to deal with and if you break the jar, which should be stored with a bit of water in the top to stop it gassing, it is impossible to collect. 1/2 L is sooo much mate how much does it weigh?..and if it appears to have solidity or particles in it it could have gold. Liquid Hg should hold about half it’s weight in Au.
I also remember when looking into building a retort I found the design of it from the WHO instructing African gold miners how to recover their Hg , they were burning it off in pots and then cooking their food! They were being extorted by American suppliers being sold the Hg at USD$10 per gram and kept in the dark how to recover it back…
I asked a scrap metal dealer what to do with it and they said they would charge me to dispose of it.
The ministry of health has info as to how to deal with a spill, anything more than 1/4 teaspoon your meant to seek professional advice https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/environmental-health/hazardous-substances/cleaning-mercury-spills-your-house
If spill is more than a quarter teaspoon, follow the instruction below:
- Have everyone else leave the area – don’t let anyone walk through the mercury on their way out.
- Open all the windows and doors to the outside.
- Turn off the heating or air conditioning system.
- Shut all doors to other parts of the house, and leave the area. Don’t vacuum.
- Seek help from professional hazardous waste disposal companies to clean up the spill.
How weird. I might have a litre of it. An antique Ginger bottle was thrown out at the tip and l got it plus l found a medicine bottle at a early miners hut site and my gold mining partner gave me a bottle as well as a cousin.
At school we played with it and turned mercury oxide into liquid mercury in the lab with bunsen burners and blow pipes and l am still alive.
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