Gold Refining & Melting: Safe & Efficient Methods

Question
I have recently come across a small amount of gold ore, upon determining that my ore contains 40 to 60 percent gold content, I decided to weld myself together a dredge of sorts, which I have managed to pull what is now nearing a pound of gold from; however I am currently experimenting with Mercury as well as a range of acids including Merautic, Sulferic, and my own consintrated version of something close to nitric acid. What I would like to know if there is an easier and or safer way to clean my gold? would a kiln with a max range of 2000f be enough to burn off all the bastard elements of copper iron and zinc or would I merely be making gold crap-metal alloy by attempting this? What I am working with is 1-2 lbs. of dirty gold dust dredged out of raw ore. How would you go about cleaning it up at this point? So far I have dredged and sluiced it out then panned it off as best as I could. None of my latest experiments have proven very efficient and I am one of those people who hates to ask for help although future experimentation could prove hazardous to my health, so it has come time to seek help from professionals like yourself.                 Thanks for your time.                              sincerely, Samuel D. Ransdell

Answer
Dear Mr. Ransdell, Thank you for your honesty in your caution of your experimentation. Yes, you health is at risk. My advice is to seek out a qualified refiner of precious metals who would complet the tasks at hand for this process. Refiners can be found online. Call a number of them and see which one is best suited for your purposes. The assay process is one that demands caution on your part as to unscroupulous actions cheating people out of metals derived from their processess. Good luck.

Steve Kretser