Originally Posted by
NobleMetalWorks
I retort mercury when I process dental grinds/scrap, and other material on occasion. I vaporize and then condense the mercury back to mercury removing it from the material I am processing.
I am fortunate in that I do know a few people whom I sell small quantities of mercury to. But it's being used in chemistry, and responsibly. I personally would not sell mercury to anyone planning on using it to recover gold.
The Department of Transportation regulates hazardous materials transport under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA). Mercury and mercury compounds are hazardous substances subject to packaging, shipping and transportation rules for hazardous materials. RCRA regulations for hazardous waste transporters incorporate HMTA rules. I do not believe it can be shipped on aircraft, if it broke in transit it can literally go almost anywhere, and will seek the lowest point which would cause it to move through electronics of the aircraft, potentially putting it at risk.
Mercury is traded by the "flask," a unit that has a mass of 36.0 kg.
The Strategic and Critical Materials Stockpile Act regulates mercury that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) sells from the National Defense Stockpile. DLA accepts daily bids for mercury. Over the last year, the price of DLA mercury has ranged from $57 – 82 per flask.
So Mercury is as cheap as $57 USD per flask to $82 USD per flask.
10 lbs of liquid mercury is 4.53592 kg.
Liquid Mercury at $57 USD per flask works out to about $1.58 per kg and at $82 per flask works out to about 2.27 per kg. Just to be fair, lets take the high range.
You have 4.53592 kg of liquid mercury, if we multiply that by $2.27 per kg we get $10.30.
Your mercury is not worth very much, to ship costs would be astronomical, you cannot ship to Minnesota, as it's not legal. Trying to find a shipping company who will ship it is difficult enough, but the cost of shipping is absolutely nutz. Shipping hazardous materials is very, very expensive. I have to purchase hazardous acids for my work. For one of the acids I use, it would cost me $250 for 6 750 ml bottles, or about 4.5 gallons. I can buy 5 gallons for $85 dollars from a company if I pick it up. Or I can order by the 55 gallon drum and pay far less. But lets keep it relative to a small amount. The difference between $85 and $250 is the cost for hazardous shipping. To ship your $10 worth of mercury it would probably cost you over $150. Just doesn't seem to be a very smart way to sell off your mercury.
You would do far better if you really wanted to purchase mercury for whatever reason, to learn chemistry, buy a mercury salt that is a solid rather than liquid, and then convert it to liquid mercury.
I would contact a local high school, or college to see if they would be interested in taking it off your hands. Please, consider being responsible if you do sell the mercury to a private individual. It is highly toxic and shouldn't be sold to anyone who does not understand the dangers, or how to properly store the mercury. And certainly to anyone that is a minor.
You should probably forget dreams of making a lot of money by selling the mercury. It's just simply not worth very much.
Scott
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