A Silicon Valley startup says it has discovered the pinnacle of alchemy – converting a relatively common metal into gold.
Marathon Fusion is proposing a process that uses nuclear fusion to turn mercury into gold, reports the Economic Times.
In a scientific paper, the firms says it’s possible to use high-energy neutrons from a fusion reactor to bombard mercury-198, turning it into mercury-197, which then decays into stable gold-197 over a matter of days.
The company says the process is extremely promising, but remains theoretical and is not yet implemented at scale.
“Our approach is economically irresistible, practically feasible, and massively scalable, in contrast to prior attempts. An entirely new golden age begins now.”
The paper, which has not yet been peer reviewed, claims the gold can be created as a byproduct at nuclear power stations “without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output.”
The method promises to create 5,000 kilograms of gold annually using a one-gigawatt fusion power plant.
Marathon Fusion was co-founded by a former SpaceX engineer and a Breakthrough Energy Fellow.
It has raised over $10.9 million in funding, including a $5.9 million seed round in July 2024 led by 1517 Fund and Anglo American, with additional support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Übermorgen Ventures and the Shared Future Fund.
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