what is the value of mercury used for gold panning?

Question

value of liquid mercury, in ounces or pounds

Answer 1

Mercury is being ban or in the process of being ban in lots of countries due to its high toxicity. It produces, cancer, poisoning similar to lead poisoning, etc. So avoid using it.

The price ranges from $200 to $600 per flask. Here I found some links:

http://www.recycle.net/Metal-E/hg/xv065000.html

Liquid Mercury Scrap - Hg Mercury, Lot of 10 lbs. 99.95% Pure. THIS IS LABORATORY GRADE MERCURY IN ORIGINAL FACTORY PACKAGING, GLASS BOTTLE IN CARDBOARD BOX THE ONLY RETAIL PRICE WE COUD FIND WAS $342.00 PER 5 POUND CONTAINER.

http://www.noharm.org/details.cfm?ID=1306&type=document#search=%22Liquid%20Mercury%20market%20price%22

Answer 2

I have never used mercury while gold panning. Either a person gets a nugget or not. This method might be used when there is a lot of black sand with tiny specks of gold and you had a truckload of the mix.
Mercury still might be used when gold along with other precious metals found in same hard rock found in mines where the rock is crushed into a powder then mercury is used to separate. Controversy surrounded the issue of use of this method of of leaching as it is poisonous to us and the environment. with today's technology centrifuges may have replaced the former. You were talking about panning.

Answer 3

Mercury amalgamates with gold. You can extract gold from a mixture of substances and adding mercury sllows the gold to be extracted. Heating the mecury until it vaporizes leaves behind separated gold.
Mercury & its vapor is very poisonous. Cyanide works much better than mercury. (found in 1886), And the new methyl carbonyl works better still. Cyanide is more poisonous than mercury.
Mercury is not very expensive. You can collect it from fluorescent light bulbs. But wear gloves and use a gas mask.
D.

Answer 4

Mercury dissolves gold. It can be recollected later.