A Cautinary Tale

Just before joining this site I came across this article:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6449a4.htm

After joining I was told to be very cautious and given much info on smelting/careful scrap recovery.
Which I am greatly thankful for.

As you can read for yourself in the link above, that man was very cautious (using breathing masks, even changing the filters regularly) and he still got messed up.
I've been told by someone that recovers gold with mercury that their chemistry set exploded on them one day.

Be very cautious, do a world of research, ask people that are more experienced with you about your set up and safety routine/equipment before you have your first use. Proceed with baby steps, work your way up from small quntities and minature setups.

Some of the precious metals you recover may be sneakily alloyed with dangerous elements.
I just learned that some large Silver switch contacts I recovered have Cadmium - not a nice thing to be licking off your fingers.
Stay safe out there guys.

Cheers