Metal Detecting

Finished work friday and decided to have a few hours at my local beach. My first find was what looked like a silver chain until i stopped digging and then it disappeared, every time i dug it reappeared and then disappeared again. On closer inspection i realised that it was a liquid that reformed shortly after disturbing it! I carefully removed the stones from the hole until i revealed a liquid pool of mercury. A new one on me after 30 odd years of searching. I slowly moved around the area to another good signal and another pool of mercury. There seemed to be a trail about 3 metres long. Remembering my chemisty lessons at school and how highly toxic mercury is i decided to report it to the environmental agency. Many phone calls later i agreed to meet my local environmental officer to point out where i had found it. The following day the beach was cordoned off and was being investigated by all authorities. By monday they have now removed all contaminated area. Just thought i would share this story with you all.

Well spotted colfish..dread to think of what might have happened if it was found by kids,plus the long term environmental effects..

regards

Clint

How bizarre! A nightmare to remove I would imagine.

How strange! Was there a chemical factory located anywhere near to the location that you were detecting? ICI and other companies used to use mercury in their chlorine production cells.

Saw this on the BBC website and wondered who had found it!!!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-17165197" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A weird find. I wonder if the National Association of Thermometer Collectors had a meeting there ?



RRPG

thats a weird one mate

wow not good me and little girl was there last week, dont bare thinking about geez

Authorities are suggesting that it may have been dumped there!!!! Will keep you updated when i know more.

well done on reporting it
it could possibly have come off a boat and the container split

Just out of curiosity, what numbers was it giving you?

Using pi machine that gives me no numbers! Hope my teeth don't fall out!!!!

Yes very toxic stuff, thats where the saying "as mad as a hatter comes from" . Sends you crazy with daily contact at work ,top hat factory.

Well found and reported

COLFISH wrote:Using pi machine that gives me no numbers! Hope my teeth don't fall out!!!!

Haha, don't worry about it mate, people are maybe over exadurating just how bad it is to be honest.
Sure it is toxic but only really in chronic cases with prolonged exposure.

Another very good reason to have gloves on