Smelted gold ore mixed with borax glass blob

[Tmackalaska]

I will jump right into my problem and hope someone can help me. a friend and I had alot gold Mixed in with black sands. My friend said he had some mercury that we could add to the black sands that could collect the gold and then recover the gold from the mercury. He assured me that he had done this many times before and knew the process. After we collected the mercury from the black sands he squeezed the mercury through syringe that he had added small pieces of cotton balls to. We ended up with a bunch of mercury colored buttons. He then added those buttons to a crucible and added borax. Needless to say he obviously didn’t know what he was doing and we ended up with a blob of smelted gold in dark red/brown borax glass. Before letting him go any farther I made the decision I should have in the beginning and decided to do my own research. the Total weight with the glass is a little over two try ounces. So I am assuming that it will still be worth it to recover from the glass.
can anyone tell me how to recover my gold from the borax glass? I would prefer not to have to use chemicals. I do have crucibles and a furnace. Also,If someone can point me in the direction for research on recovering the rest of my alga-mated gold/mercury. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. I will also upload pictures as soon as I can.

 

[goldshark]

If you got the melt hot enough to collect the fine Au into smaller shot, just put it in a walled collection area, and hit with a hammer. This will shatter the melted Borax, Then pan it out. If it didn't get it hot enough to coagulate the fine Au into bigger particles, then you will have to crush and grind, back to the original particles sizes of the fine particles. Again pan it out, with Jet Dry, to relieve the surface tension. Next time you use Mercury, retort it before you put it in a crucible. Hopefully you didn't use a hand held torch, with your nose close in to view the magic. This is how crazy people are created.

 

[Tmackalaska]

This is what I am working with.

 

[Martijn]

You can dissolve borax in warm to hot water with a bit of sulfuric acid. Give it some time.
Filter the gold out and melt again without borax.

 

[Martijn]

Welcome to the forum by the way.
I just read your whole post...

You just played with your life!!!

Smelting mercury will create mercury vapors that are toxic for you and the environment!
Go see a doctor and get your blood tested.

 

[goldshark]

This is what I am working with.

Thanks for the picture. Still a little hard to see without a microscope. Both suggestions by Martin, and hopefully me, should lead to a positive recovery. Crushing and the warm water Sulphuric, may speed the process. Don't forget to add the Sulphuric a drop at a time.