When I was younger, way younger, and a thermometer got broken Dad would scrape up the mercury and my brothers and I would take turns letting it roll around in our palms while he cleaned up the broken glass. When we got bored with the game it got tossed out into the yard. Times change.
Mercury can also be used in an outdated technique to separate gold from powdered ore. Then getting the gold out of the mercury gets a bit dicey. There are a few ways but they involve vaporizing the mercury away from the gold to produce dor'e. Mercury vapor is very bad. Some hobby miners still use these methods. Some use them safely, some not. Someone with supposed access to the supposed spare mercury may have been supposedly mailing it to his supposed mining buddies.
And another conspiracy is born. Cigars for all!
Thank you,
MrSmith