On the surface, the powdered ores are put through another sieve and towel process, and then mixed with mercury to form an amalgam with the gold. The Hg-Au amalgam is formed into pellets that are wrapped tightly in the fabric from an umbrella. The nylon fabric provides a final sieve. This is squeezed, much as the lees of beer brewing a squeezed through the beer strainer. Some of the excess mercury is forced out of the mixture in this way and is collected to be used again. The final product of this method is a hard ball of mercury-gold amalgam. This is finally ‘burnt’ with an oxy-acetylene cutting torch to drive off the mercury, leaving pure gold nuggets behind.
The gold purified in this manner is then ready to sell.
No comments:
Post a Comment