How do gold miners make sure they don eat the cyanide accidentally?
what a good question…Its not exactly about boats, but I used to operate a ” cyanide in solution” plant on a large gold mine. Here’s how it works…the ore is crushed into fine powder and mixed with water. The mud is run over slopes covered in mats made of sheepskin, a bit like sheepskin seat covers.Called STRAKES. The gold lodges in the wool and is washed out manually on a regular basis. This gets out 95% of the gold. The other 5% is recovered by running the mud through a series of seven vats where it is thinned with water and blocks of SODIUM CYANIDE added. A chemical test keeps a check on the ratios of cyanide to water. the CYANIDE melts the gold into the water and then the mud is strained out by a large rotating cloth covered cylinder. The “gold in solution” water is then pumped through a series of filters, starting with sand filled swimming pools and ending with paper filters like your car air cleaner. The paper filters are then burnt in a furnace and liquid mercury added. This r
