Marathon Fusion's mercury-to-gold claim, explained again
From the Energy digest for 2026-10-23
What happened: San Francisco-based startup Marathon Fusion says it has converted mercury into stable gold using a process involving fusion neutrons, and NDTV Profit published an explainer (Oct 23) laying out what the company says it did. The claim rests on isotope transmutation inside a suitably designed fusion plant; the company's 2025 paper estimates roughly 2 tonnes of gold annually from such a plant, framed against CERN's demonstrated transmutation record as about a 10x multiple.
What's genuinely new: A second outlet has now walked through the claimed mechanism in detail following the skeptical explainer that surfaced the claim on Oct 22 — but the evidentiary ledger is unchanged: no demonstration, no named partner reactor developer or utility, and no independent verification of the yield math in the window. The story remains claims-grade.
Watch: Independent assessment of the paper's ~2-tonne-per-year yield estimate, and whether Marathon Fusion names a partner reactor developer or utility.
Links: NDTV Profit