So 30+ years ago we rearranged our Instrument Shop, clean everything out toss and replace with new stuff.? ?One of the items was a quart plastic bottle about half full of mercury recovered from broken thermometers and switches etc.? Several instruments and control devices used mercury switches.? ?Anyhow we are talking a pint or more of pure mercury.? ? It was set aside for disposal and someone just threw it into a dumpster, the weight alone should have cued them in.? ?We never found it.? ?
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On another note: My older brother decided to metal detect an area where a gold smelter used to be, he found a large pool of mercury in the bottom of the creek, beneath the soil, he left it be.? ??
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In the hills near where I live on the California central coast there are several marked mercury mines.? ??
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