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This is essentially a repost from the Minecraft Abnormals Discord server, with some modifications to refine the suggestion.

Introduction.

One thing that I never really liked about Minecraft is the ladck of unconventional metals: Except for Copper, all metals are used to make tools. This is understandable, though: what metals could there be that the Player could refine without equipment just for that purpose that aren't even good materials for that?

Out of two possibilities, one I sought out was lead, for which I already wrote a suggestion long ago. The other logical metal to pick is mercury: Not only is it a liquid, so it's not easy to even consider shoving tools into it, but this also means it can be a peculiar liquid. Moreover, some of it's chemical compounds, folklore and role in alchemy can all potentially provide unique uses for this liquid metal.

Cinnabar: A somewhat peculiar ore.

Cinnabar is the ore where mercury is extracted. It is found in Basalt Deltas, at a rate similar to Redstone. It can also be generated post-generation at a low chance if mercury is next to basalt as it forms in your typical basalt generator (rarer than the usual spawn chance, so you're actually mining MORE that way).

When mined, the ore drops 1-3 Cinnabar lumps. These can also be obtained via bartering with Piglins.

Cinnabar is unique as an ore in that it is used as a material without further refinement. It has two crafting uses:

• Vermillion blocks. These are crafted with 9 Cinnabar lumps, and are just a storage block that looks pretty.
• Vermillion boxes. These are crafted with a chest and 4 Cinnabar lumps. They act similarly to chests, but are Ghast-proof, and are affected by gravity. They CANNOT couple together like normal chests.

Refinement.

Cinnabar is refined in an unusual way: Instead of the Furnace, it's refined through the Brewing Stand. This is achieved in a simple way: Just place 3 Empty Bottles in the Brewing Stand where potions would go, and a Cinnabar lump on top. This yields 3 bottled of Mercury.

These can be further processed or used as crafting materials. They can also be placed into cauldrons. Filling a cauldron with liquid mercury makes it possible to pick it up with a bucket, thus yielding placeable Liquid Mercury.

Liquid Mercury.

Mercury is a very dense liquid: Not only is it only able to flow a single block (3 in the Nether), but Pistons can even move source blocks as if they were solid. Entities always inherently float on top of mercury, even if they'd otherwise sink (such as Iron Golems).

Liquid mercury can transmit Redstone signals, but mercury lowers their intensity twice as much as redstone (in other words, a single mercury block is like 2 Redstone dust specks next to each other). Source and flowing mercury act identical in this respect.

Crafting and brewing recipes.

1: Mercury lamp.

They're crafted from 6 Glass Blocks, a Mercury Bottle and 2 Glowstone Dust, yielding 3 Mercury Lamps. These resemble fluorescent lamps, and can be placed both horizontally (under ceilings, on floors) and vertically (on walls). The lamp's attitude depends on your position upon placing it.
They have to be powered to provide light, but, unlike Redstone Lamps, the emitted light depends on the intensity of the Redstone signal, so that placing a Redstone Torch on top of the block a Mercury Lamp is attached to will produce 15 Light level, but connecting it from afar so that the signal is at Strength 1 only produces 1 Light level (like a Brown Mushroom). Mercury Lamps placed next to each other connect into a single one, causing their signal strength to be the highest out of all signals applied, making it easier to set up uniform faint light sources.

2: Blazing Mercury.

This is the main purpose of re-brewing mercury. It is obtained by brewing mercury bottles with Blaze Powder and then right-clicking the resultant Bottle of Blazing mercury to retrieve this nasty, unstable compound. Blazing Mercury has the following uses:

1. It can be placed similarly to Glow Lichen. As Blazing Mercury is unstable as hell and hates it's own miserable existence, it's easy to detonate. This can be done by punching it, hitting it with a projectile, nearby explosions, being next to fire, or if something falls on it. Safely removing it is done either by using a shovel or by flushing it with water.
2. Block of Blazing Mercury: It's crafted from 9 pieces of Blazing Mercury, and it's behavior is simple: it's a block affected by gravity that explodes just as easily as before. On top of this, it also explodes if it falls more than 3 blocks. It has no fuse, and it's explosion power is similar to that of a Creeper's.
3. Bombs. These devices are crafted similarly to TNT, using 4 Blazing Mercury and 4 Iron Ingots, with the center being taken by a TNT block, yielding 4 Bombs.
They're stackable up to 16, must be charged before throwing like a bow. They detonate upon impact and their explosion is as powerful as a Ghast fireball. Bombs cannot break blocks, but the explosion produces shrapnel which deals about as much damage as an arrow. They can also be shot out of dispensers.

3. Shell Potion

It is brewed on Thick Potions using a Mercury Bottle. It's a simple potion on the vein of that of the Turtle Master: It inflicts Resistance II, but also inflicts Poison. This, essentially, means that you're taking DoT in exchange of receiving less damage from outside sources.

Full support, this seems unique and modest enough in scope to be allowed in canon.
I would strongly recommend putting this on the reddit or suggestions site.

Love this idea, +1 would be super cool to see more obscure ores in minecraft