Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Our Environment
A Set of Natural and Man-made
Features
MERCURY
Mercury, one of the seven metals known to the ancients, was in the past widely
used because of its ability to dissolve silver and gold. Also known as quicksilver,
it is the only metal which is liquid at room temperature. Extraction from ore is most
simply carried out by distillation as mercury compounds decompose and volatilize
at moderate temperatures, to be readily recovered by condensation. Most of the
mercury known to man originated from one mine. The Almadén deposit in Spain,
exploited over 2000 years, contained over 30 percent of the world's known reserves
of mercury with a grade six times the global average for mercury mines.
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