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How is mercury ore commonly mined from underground deposits?

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Mercury thermometer — mercury processing Mercury in the bulb of a thermometer.

Because mercury deposits are typically small and irregular, occurring as veinlets or disseminated deposits, they do not support large-scale, highly mechanized mining operations.

The most common method for recovering mercury ore from underground deposits involves conventional drilling and blasting. Once the ore is loosened, it is removed from the site using scraping or mechanical loading into ore cars.1

While various mineral-processing techniques—such as flotation, jigging, and screening—exist to concentrate the ore, these methods are often not economically competitive with the direct furnacing of the ore as mined or after simple hand-sorting. Additionally, a growing portion of the mercury supply in the United States is now obtained as a by-product of large, low-grade gold mining operations.1