Gold Dredging removes mercury from waterways

[HHammerHeadD]

mercury is released from cinnabar rock outcrops woven into the matrix of the shears of the mountains when they ripped open and rose above water. When ever there are forest fires, lightning strikes, and snow melts, rain, freeze & thaw, and heat release the mercury into the hillsides, and into lower elevations until it settles. every year there is more and more comming down the mountains as gravity pulls it to the rivers via creeks and streams. and more often than not, it is amalgamated with gold

[HHammerHeadD]

A MERCURY RETORT IS SAFER THAN ANY ACID FOR PURIFICATION AS WELL.

WHO IS TEACHING THIS CLASS?

[HHammerHeadD]

what do they give you for your Merc? and where does the merc end up at?

Is this just a donation? STRICKLY VOLUNTARY GIVE AWAY! THATS A LOT OF WORK TO BE GIVING IT AWAY IMHO... THE PRICES OF ALL PRECIOUS METALS HAS GONE UP, AND ON THE OPEN INDUSTRIAL MARKET IT IS UP AS WELL.

WHO IS MAKING PROFIT ON THIS MERC IN THE END? THE STATE OR JUST ANOTHER GIVE AWAY? SOUNDS LIKE A DOUBLE STANDARD TO ME, BUT IF YOU FOLKS WANT TO WORK FOR NOTHING, GO4IT.

[skateboy159]

isnt mercury a liquid till -40?

[vmelkon]

@skateboy159 Look it up in wikipedia. Its melting point is -38 °C.

[crazy8sdrums]

Thank you for the great video!

[TheHarleyhillbilly]

sounds like Jesse Ventura

[SFR1985]

Fantastic documentry supporting small scale dredging with support of the environment.

[staydput]

Pure Hg is NOT just sitting in the river bottom. In gold laden streams it will bounce around until it's ingested by wildlife or it bonds to form gold amalgam. When that happens the deposit pretty much sits until a small scale leisure miner sucks it up in the dredge and it ends up in the concentrates.

If only to clean up his find, the miner has to separate the amalgam. Nitric acid is popular as it will take up the Hg and leave the Au behind.

In a closed system, the nitrate can be gently heated

[jdawgjayj]

@staydput I'm suprised you say that. You must not dredge much. In bedrock areas where cinnabar is available in abundance naturally it is there. I have cleaned bedrock with gold and mercury amalgam sitting there. More liquid mercury then there was gold. I captured it all and still have it to this day.

[tubecat72]

Any idea when the DFG will complete their study in California? SB 670 is crap! Thanks for putting the truth out there.

[GoldrushUniversity]

They are now employing the delay tactic. The latest is they likely will not have the Supplemental Enviornmental Impact Report until Sept. 2011! The ones in charge will not allow any pro-dredging facts to be inserted into the study, even by credible biologists. They are only allowing anti-dredging bias so-called "facts" to be admitted. It would be so refreshing if they would allow everything in and let the truth speak for itself.

[TheSneakyboots]

@GoldrushUniversity Those bastards! Sorry, but I don't think there is a politically correct word for those jerks.

[punjedi]

WHOAH! I am 36 years old and I never knew that pure mercury just sits in the rivers like this. Not that I had bothered to look it up but I am amazed! Guess I always assumed mercury was something that had to be "formulated" or "extracted" in some way..........Learn something new everyday.

[crinkle66]

The best brand for metal detecters are Minelab tech, youll pay a couple grand for it, but it will pay for itself, especially in the dessert

[mws123]

they buying that mercury off the prospectors

[GoldrushUniversity]

I believe the prospectors are donating it.

[mws123]

do you know what mercury is going for now? and do you know a good gold dector?

[Lojikbom]

Mercury's pretty cheap - about $8/lb

[mfgunit]

isnt mercury more precious then gold?

[ridenowmon]

Thanks for your video. This is a good resource when trying to explain the benefits of gold dredging.

[GoldrushUniversity]

You're welcome! The truth needs to get out that dredges actually help clean up the environment, and improve the fish habitat by loosening packed gravels for spawning and creating cool water holes in the river bottom for migrating salmon to rest in. After one winter storm, usually there is virtually no evidence that any dredging occured.

[creekwalker09]

I am a gold prospector, I operate a dredge in the summer in NC I also operate a high banker. You are right after one good storm you can not tell where you were before, the rise in water flow fills in where you used to work. I prospect on little meadow creek above Reeds Gold Mine, most is fine gold with an occasional picker, dad found a dime size piece a couple years ago.

[hondadrift]

Im heading up to oroville this summer. Anyone know of a good river to dredge on?

[mrpascalfortier]

Great video, thank you!

[riverbender]

Good job PLP!

Could use a less-"wooden" narration, but the essence of what is presented is absolutely true.