There's Gold In Them Eastern Hills, Too

(Page 4 of 4)

July/August 1979
By Richard Ray 
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CAUTION: Be careful with mercury! Don't swallow it or breathe the vapors, and avoid prolonged skin contact. The substance is very poisonous!

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Once you've put in the mercury, grind for another five to ten minutes . . . add water . . . and shake the mixture well. Then slowly pan off the lightest sand, and-eventually-all the gold and mercury should bind at the bottom of your container.

If you want to conserve your mercury, place the amalgam in a very thin, wet chamois. Hold the ends and slowly twist the material so that the excess "liquid silver" is squeezed through and can be saved. Your chamois will then contain an amalgam "button" . . . which still includes a little mercury.

Place this nodule in a metal container and heat it (outdoors) over a low flame for a good 20 minutes. Again, be very careful NOT to breathe the fumes! (The mercury can also be burnt off with nitric acid.) The result should be a gold sponge button, which you can leave as is or melt down. (Gold melts at 1945°F.)

SELL OR SAVE

Gold and precious metals are weighed in the troy system. Here are some equivalents to help you estimate the size of your find: 20 pennyweights = 1 troy ounce . . . 12 troy ounces = 1 troy pound ... 1 troy ounce = 1.1 avoirdupois ounces or 31.1 grams.

After you've weighed your panned riches, you can sell them if you wish. Jewelers, collectors, rock shops, dentists, and various companies buy gold. Probably the most profitable way to market your "strike", however, is to first make it into jewelry! Nuggets are especially suitable for such handicraft use, and even tiny flakes of the metal can be suspended in fluid inside clear, crystal lockets. (I've seen such items sell for outrageous prices!)

Or, of course, you can simply save your "bonanza" and watch its value grow. After all . . . what else is "as good as gold"?

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  • Robert Willard 8/22/2009 2:07:57 PM

    The Arkansas state geologist and USGS both confirm there is no gold in Arkansas. How can you publish this article with no proof? I was a subscriber to MEN from the first issue. You are now party to fraud.

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