It's Alchemy: After Lab Grown Diamonds . . . Lab Grown Gold
July 24, 25
(IDEX Online) - A US startup says it has developed technology to produce lab grown gold, as a byproduct of the fusion process used by nuclear reactors.
San Francisco-based Marathon Fusion says a fusion plant powering 2.5m homes, can also produce around 5 metric tonnes of gold a year using their method, without compromising its output.
Over a three-day period their "nuclear transmutation" process turns mercury-197, an isotope produced during fusion, into gold.
It is is indistinguishable from natural, mined gold in every respect, chemically, physically, and in terms of purity and stability.
There is, however, a slight catch. You have to wait between 14 and 18 years for short-lived radioactive impurities to decay.
"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," said Marathon Fusion, which hopes to apply similar technology to the production of palladium and other precious metals.
The company was founded in 2023 by Adam Rutkowski, formerly a propulsion engineer at Elon Musk's SpaceX.
File pic of a gold nugget.