Does mercury literally melt gold to form an amalgam?

Question

In recovery of gold, the raw material is typically treated with mercury, which forms an amalgam with the gold. What is the actual process of "forming an amalgam". Does this happen only between gold and mercury?

Answer 1

Miners used mercury (quicksilver) to recover gold throughout the western United States at both placer (alluvial) and hardrock (lode) mines. The vast majority of mercury lost to the environment in California was from placer-gold mines, which used hydraulic, drift, and dredging methods. At hydraulic mines, placer ores were broken down with monitors (or water cannons, fig. 1) and the resulting slurry was directed through sluices and drainage tunnels, where gold particles combined with liquid mercury to form gold-mercury amalgam. Loss of mercury in this process was 10 to 30 percent per season (Bowie, 1905), resulting in highly contaminated sediments at mine sites (fig. 2). Elevated mercury concentrations in present-day mine waters and sediments indicate that hundreds to thousands of pounds of mercury remain at each of the many sites affected by hydraulic mining.


hope that helps

Answer 2

Doesn't it just 'grab'it?