Turning ordinary metal into gold? Now, a "Mercury Alchemist" has emerged in Silicon Valley. Marathon Fusion, a nuclear fusion startup in San Francisco, claims that through deuterium-tritium fusion releasing 14 MeV neutrons, mercury-198 can undergo an (n, 2n) reaction to become unstable mercury-197, which then decays into stable gold-197, theoretically producing over 5 tons of gold annually per 1 GW reactor. The paper is posted on arXiv, but the theoretical validity cannot be confirmed at present.
Nuclear Transformation Concept Reappears in Modern Laboratory
Marathon Fusion was founded in 2023 by Schiller and Rutkowski, with only 12 employees, yet securing $5.9 million in private funding and $4 million in government grants.
Their published paper proposes mixing mercury-198 in a tokamak breeding blanket to convert neutron energy into a catalyst for gold production.
Dr. Ahmed Diallo from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory candidly admits that while the theory hasn't been confirmed:
Theoretically, it looks great, and everyone I've spoken with is curious and excited.
Power Plant Doubles Revenue
Gold has long been viewed as a scarce hedging asset, with global annual production around 3,500 tons. Marathon Fusion calculates that a 1 GW reactor maintaining power generation and tritium breeding could generate additional gold worth comparable to electricity revenue. They call this the "Chrysopoeia Native" design, intended to add a cash flow to nuclear fusion. Rutkowski says:
Producing gold at scale using high-speed neutron reactions without affecting fuel cycle operations.
Currently, the paper remains in the calculation stage, without peer review or experimental data support.
CFS Chief Technology Officer Brenner cautions:
From a pure scientific perspective, the entire concept seems feasible. I believe the real challenge is how to engineer it and build a practical system.
First, the reactor needs precise control of neutron flux and mercury isotope ratios; second, the decay process produces radioactive gold isotopes that may require 14 to 18 years of storage before safe circulation, slowing capital recovery.
Moreover, nuclear fusion commercialization has yet to overcome plasma stability and radiation-resistant material barriers, with past "commercialization in ten years" promises continuously falling short. The "modern alchemy" remains distant. If gold production becomes possible in the future, how the market would reprice precious metals remains unknown.
