Using Lithium and Mercury to Create Gold

Tokamak Fusion Reactor turns Mercury into Gold (New Atlas, 26 July, 2025)

https://newatlas.com/science/fusion-reactors-put-king-midas-shame-gold-department/

Marathon Fusion announces that its tokamak fusion reactor technology can turn common mercury into gold as a byproduct of fusion operations (in large quantities).

According to Marathon Fusion – a company dedicated to the development of fusion energy components – a tokamak fusion reactor can not only produce limitless clean energy, but five tonnes of gold out from mercury for every gigawatt (~2.5 GWth) of electricity generated.

Put simply, the method is similar to one proposed to allow reactors to manufacture their own tritium fuel. This is done by lining the reactor vessel with a layer of lithium. When the lithium absorbs a neutron from the fusion reaction, it splits into an alpha particle and a tritium atom. If you replace the lithium with the very common mercury-198 isotope (or better yet, a lithium/mercury alloy), a fast neutron will turn it into unstable mercury-197. This then undergoes an electron decay that turns into (ta da!) gold-197.

Marathon scientists suggest using mercury that has been enriched to 90% of the desired isotope for the best reaction results. After being exposed to the reactor, the amalgam can be treated chemically to separate the gold. Since gold is a nearly inert noble element, this is a relatively simple process.

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