A Silicon Valley start-up is heralding in a new 'Golden age' after it claims to have solved a millennia-old alchemical mystery.
Marathon Fusion has announced that it can turn mercury into gold in a 'massively scalable' way by using nuclear fusion technology.
The company has submitted a scientific paper, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, showing how they are able to achieve this ancient mystery by bombarding mercury isotopes with high-energy neutrons.
Neutrons are released during nuclear fusion, when two hydrogen isotopes are forced together to form helium.
These neutrons drive a multiplication reaction on mercury-198, Marathon Fusion's approach produces mercury-197, which then decays in a few days to the only stable isotope of gold.
Marathon Fusion said: "Using our approach, power plants can generate five thousand kilograms of gold per year, per gigawatt of electricity generation, without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output.
"This marks the beginning of a new Golden Age. Not only for the production of critical minerals, but also for energy, prosperity, and scientific discovery.
"Together, we will usher in a renaissance in fusion technology."
