%0 Journal Article
%T The Ancient Quimbalete and Mercury Efficiency in Present-Day Small-Scale Gold Processing, Perú
%A William E. Brooks
%J Archaeological Discovery
%P 49-58
%@ 2331-1967
%D 2025
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ad.2025.132003
%X The <i>quimbalete</i> was used in pre-contact Per&#250; and is still used today to process gold. It is a 1 - 2 ton, manually operated, artisanal stone crushing device used to release the gold from the ore as it is rocked back and forth on a water-lubricated, stone base to which mercury is added. The weight and the back-and-forth rocking motion forces the mm-sized gold grains and mercury together to form an amalgam that is recovered from the muddy slurry and then burned to produce an anthropogenic gold nugget. Spot geochemical sampling of: 1) the Au ore, 2) post-amalgamation mud, and 3) dried post-cyanide mud indicate that the ages-old mercury amalgamation process captures ~20% of the gold from the crushed ore and sodium cyanide is the final step to capture the remaining gold. Therefore, since mercury is used with <i>quimbaletes</i> to amalgamate gold at small-scale gold processing sites today in Per&#250;, then, the documented use of <i>quimbaletes</i> in pre-contact Per&#250; is evidence for and consistent with pre-contact use of mercury for gold amalgamation.
%K Quimbalete
%K Gold
%K Amalgamation
%K Comminution
%K Per&#250
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=140953