Marathon Fusion has not disclosed how much gold it made or at what cost.
San Francisco-based startup Marathon Fusion says it has converted mercury into stable gold using fusion technology, an achievement it claims beats a record set at CERN by a factor of ten.
In the process, neutrons released by fusion reactions strike mercury, turning it into an unstable isotope that decays into gold.
The company has not said how much gold it produced or what it cost. It projects that a future fusion plant could produce about 5 tonnes of gold a year per gigawatt of capacity.
Experts note that commercial fusion power plants do not yet exist, and that gold made this way could contain radioactive isotopes requiring years of storage before use.
