Startup claims it can make gold from mercury using fusion; science fiction turns real
However, a Silicon Valley startup now asserts that, with the use of
nuclear fusion
technology, it has finally solved the age-old alchemical enigma.
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By subjecting mercury isotopes to high-energy neutron bombardment,
Marathon Fusion
says it has found a way to turn mercury into gold.
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When two hydrogen isotopes are pushed together to make helium, a process known as nuclear fusion, the neutrons are released.
This implies that power generation and the alchemical process can coexist.
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"Our approach is economically irresistible, practically feasible, and massively scalable, in contrast to prior attempts," Marathon Fusion stated. "An entirely new golden age begins now."
The company has released a scientific article on the proposed transmutation technology and is working on fuel processing and recycling methods for the emerging fusion industry. Peer review has not yet been done on it.
Alchemy has been around for thousands of years, and its main goals have been turning metals into gold and finding an elixir of immortality. It has fascinated intellectuals for thousands of years, including Newton, the English physicist who created the mathematical law of universal gravitation in the latter part of the 17th century.
The creation of a "philosopher's stone" that would act as a catalyst to turn base metals like lead into gold was a fantasy of many.
Marathon's concept is based on using components from the well-known nuclear fusion process in its place.
When two hydrogen isotopes, tritium and deuterium, are forced together to form helium, high-energy subatomic particles known as neutrons are released. This process is known as fusion.
In order to achieve this, the deuterium and tritium atoms are heated to extremely high temperatures, more than 100 million degrees Celsius, and then confined to a small area, where they will clash. When helium atoms collide with the fuel particles, their energy is transferred and the reaction continues, making the process self-sustaining.
However, in order to guarantee that there is always an adequate amount of tritium in the mixture, fusion reactors usually contain other elements, such as beryllium, lead, or lithium isotopes.
Because they emit two neutrons in their place when struck by one, these are referred to as "multipliers."
Tritium is subsequently created when these additional neutrons react with lithium.
A radical change
Mercury-198, a typical type of mercury, is used as a multiplier in Marathon's approach. These atoms transform into mercury-197, a less stable form, when struck by a neutron.
Those atoms then spontaneously transform into a stable form of gold over a few days.
According to Marathon, this implies that gold supplies could be produced as a byproduct of the fusion process "without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output." According to the business, a fusion power station with a one gigawatt capacity could produce 5,000 kilogrammes of gold annually using the new method.
The business states that although the gold generated by the reaction is stable, it may contain some radioactive gold isotopes, which could require storage for up to 18 years.
Marathon's techno-economic modelling indicates that fusion plants could generate as much economic value from the production of gold as they do from the production of electricity, potentially doubling the facilities' value and drastically altering the economics of fusion and energy in general, the start-up continued. In addition to gold, it stated that the transmutation process might be utilised to create materials for "nuclear batteries," medicinal isotope synthesis, and precious metals like palladium.
Adam Rutkowski, a former engineer at SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company, and Kyle Schiller, a fellow at Schmidt Futures, the research foundation founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, founded Marathon.
The method allows power plants to produce 5,000 kg of gold annually each gigawatt of energy generated (~2.5 GWth) without sacrificing power output or fuel self-sufficiency, claims the startup.
Leading investors including Strong Atomics and the 1517 Fund, as well as multiple grants from the US Department of Energy and the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, fund Marathon Fusion.
The Fusion community's reaction
Leading scientists are excited about the pre-print even as it awaits proper peer review:
"This new technology approach that Marathon Fusion is developing changes fundamentally how we should think about fusion as an energy source."
—
Dr. Per F. Peterson
, Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Engineering at U.C. Berkeley and Scientific Advisor to Marathon Fusion
"The technology described could have a major impact on the economics of fusion energy if it's able to be fully realized and integrated into upcoming power plants. Improved economics could further relax some engineering and scientific requirements, accelerating the path to commercial deployment. This is potentially highly impactful, and I'll be paying close attention to the results of rigorous peer review"
—
Dr. Dan Brunner
, former CTO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and Scientific Advisor to Marathon Fusion
"The discovery of scalable
gold transmutation
by leveraging fusion neutrons could fundamentally shift the techno-economic landscape. Marathon Fusion's breakthrough—commercial-scale gold synthesis via nuclear reactions—redefines fusion economics and could unlock the capital needed for next-generation power plants."
—
Dr. Ahmed Diallo
, Principal Research Physicist and Distinguished Research Fellow at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), and Scientific Advisor to Marathon Fusion
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