Metallurgy Interview Question:

When using mercury to recover very, fine gold from ore, what is the best way to separate the gold laden mercury from the ore?

Submitted by: Administrator

A centrifugal system would certainly separate the mercury assuming you could maintain a fluidized bed and that there were not large differences in the sizes of the particles in the slurry. Depending on the volume involved, a vibratory table might be better. There are many other methods, but I would need to know the relative size / volume / solid-liquid ratio information in order to make a useful recommendation. You need to take special precautions in any case to preclude the release of mercury into the environment. This is very east to do I can help you there as well if you care to divulge the nature of your processing circuit.
Submitted by: Administrator