Ah, now, ya see, talkin’ ’bout this “amalgamation of gold” thing, it might sound all fancy-like, but truth be told, it’s just a way folks use ta get gold outta rocks. Now, in the olden days, they figured out that if ya add a bit of this silvery, shiny stuff called mercury, it helps grab onto the gold, makin’ it easier ta pull out. And that’s called “amalgamation.” This here process been around for ages, used by gold miners all over the world, an’ still gets done in many a place today.
How Amalgamation Works, Ya Say?
Well, lemme tell ya! It all starts with gettin’ the gold outta dirt an’ rocks. Gold don’t just sit there shiny in big lumps, no, sir. So, they crush up the rocks, make it into a kinda powder. After that, they wash the powder ta get a gold-heavy concentrate. Then comes the part where the mercury does its magic.
They take a smidge of mercury and mix it with that gold-heavy stuff. Mercury, ya see, has this trick where it clings to the gold, sorta like how honey sticks to your fingers. Before ya know it, that there mercury wraps itself ‘round the little bits of gold, turnin’ the whole thing into a kinda lumpy, grey mass. And that right there’s the “amalgam.”
Now, they don’t wanna keep the mercury in there, ya know. So, what they do is they take that lump, put it in a special cloth, like a fine cotton bag or somethin’, an’ squeeze it tight. When they do that, most of the mercury oozes right out, leavin’ the gold behind. What’s left in the bag is still a mix, but with way less mercury.
Why Use Mercury? Ain’t It Dangerous?
Well, it sure ain’t the safest thing, that’s for sure. Mercury’s got some nasty side effects if ya handle it too much or breathe in the fumes when it’s heated up. But folks in places where there’s not much else they can use, they still go for it ‘cause it’s cheap an’ works good. It gets the gold out, plain an’ simple. That’s why this whole amalgamation process, they say, is especially popular in places called artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Sounds fancy, but it’s mostly folks tryin’ ta make a livin’ the hard way.
Amalgamation’s Been Around for Ages
Yup, long before we even had machines an’ all, folks were usin’ mercury ta get gold. Take this fella, H. Schliemann, he’s some big-shot archaeologist. Well, he found this old pot with mercury in it, buried way back in Egypt around 1600 B.C. Can ya imagine? So they been at this a long time, usin’ mercury like that all over, especially where they ain’t got fancy machines. They say it’s a “rudimentary process,” meanin’ it’s basic an’ simple.
Burnin’ the Amalgam, Last Step
Now, once they squeeze out that mercury, they still got gold mixed up in it, so the last thing they gotta do is heat it up. This is the part where ya gotta be real careful. They take the mix and burn it, an’ the heat makes the mercury turn into vapor, leavin’ just the gold behind. They say it “volatilizes” or some such thing, which is just a fancy way of sayin’ it floats off into the air. Then they might use a condenser to catch that mercury, so it don’t go to waste, and they can use it again.
After all’s said an’ done, what they end up with is the gold all by itself. No mercury, just shiny gold, which is what they’re after. But all this here process ain’t exactly what ya call safe. Lots of folks wanna find new ways ta get the gold out that don’t use mercury, ‘cause it can harm folks an’ nature too.
Is Amalgamation Goin’ Outta Style?
Well, sorta. In places where they can afford fancy machines an’ safer stuff, they don’t use mercury much no more. But where people are doin’ things on a small scale, they’re still stickin’ to it, ’cause it’s cheap, an’ like I said, it works. But folks in science and mining are studyin’ better ways to pull the gold out without mercury. They’re lookin’ at somethin’ called gravity concentration, cyanide leaching, an’ other things that don’t sound quite as risky.
Anyways, that’s the whole shebang ’bout the amalgamation of gold. It’s a process as old as the hills, ya could say. Folks been doin’ it since ancient times, an’ they’ll probably keep at it in places where there ain’t other options. So next time ya hear ‘bout gold bein’ dug up somewhere, ya might just imagine them squeezin’ that grey lump an’ burnin’ off the mercury. Funny how somethin’ so old-fashioned still gets the job done!
Tags：[amalgamation of gold, mercury in gold mining, artisanal mining, gold extraction, ancient mining techniques]
English (Australia) 
English (United States) 
Russian 
Spanish 