Adventures in Gold Mining Extracting a Diagnosis

Elemental mercury is used to amalgamate the precious metals gold and silver as a means of extracting
them from their ores.
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 In this process, the ore is submerged in elemental mercury, which is a liquid under
standard conditions, and the mercury attracts gold
particles to form a gold-mercury amalgam. The goldmercury amalgam is heated during the purification
stage to volatilize the mercury, posing a significant risk
for inhalation by workers.
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