[Jewelry making - Article 00064] - Re: [Orchid] Collecting gold with mercury

[John Donivan]

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>     what do you all think of the idea of having some puddles of mercury
>     rolling around in my desk to pick up all the precious metal
>     filings? I could then burn off the mercury (outside!) and be left
>     with gold, silver, and platinum dust which I could easily send to
>     my refiner. 

    Doc, you have a great sense of humor. I'm assuming it's that and not
    the alternative, which is that you are insane..... There are so many
    reasons not to do that it's hard to know where to start---- Aside
    from the obvious, which is the death-wish part. Just now I priced
    mercury at about $60/100gm, or $116/lb. You could have "balls rolling
    around on your desk", I guess, but how are you going to do that?
    Train them? Then you're going to touch them, get them in your
    clothes, have them on the floor, in your hair - such a concept. Then
    your brain will slowly rot away - mercury's a neuological toxin....
    Finally, mercury isn't going to "burn off". It's simply going to boil
    and vaporize, and then it's going to cool off and un-vaporize, and
    deposit elemental mercury all over your yard, your fruit trees, your
    tomatos, your water table, your dog. Such a sense of humor!!!! I'm
    not "mercury paranoid" either - it just is what it is - fairly
    difficult to handle because of it's surface tension, and an
    insidious toxin that's extremely difficult to get rid of. Not to
    mention it's not so cheap. 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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