I use gold leaf for my fuming. I just fold a square up as tight as I can, and then punty it up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AVC-Ed
In the mercury process, gold and mining debris is poured into a vat of mercury. The gold floats because it is lighter than the mercury, but all the debris drops out because it is heavier than mercury. The gold picks up minute amounts of mercury through contact, and when the gold is later processed, the mercury contaminates the gold.
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Very informative post but it left me scratching my head... The way I learned, Gold was extracted from the ore using a process called mercury amalgamation, where the gold ore is ground fine and tumbled with mercury in a large drum. The actual gold bonds (forms an amalgam) with the mercury, while the undesired elements of the ore remain unbonded. After tumbling, the mercury/gold amalgam is drained off and is later separated (distilled) using heat.
I'd be interested to read more about the process you describe - although to me it seems rather counter-intuitive as gold is denser than mercury at room temperature (19.3 g/cc vs 13.5g/cc) so the gold would sink in the mercury. Can you provide any links for further reading?