If you’re selling gold because of fusion alchemy, you’re front-running a reactor that doesn’t exist, fed with mercury that costs 100,000x more than the gold it makes, to produce bars you couldn’t legally sell for 15 years. Marathon Fusion’s idea is real physics, since fusion neutrons can turn mercury-198 into gold. 1. Even optimistic models give 2–5 tonnes per gigawatt plant per year, against roughly 3,500–4,000 tonnes of annual mine supply 2. Enriched mercury-198 sells for about $15,000 per milligram today, while gold trades near $135 per gram 3. The gold would need 14–18 years of storage before it can be sold, so a plant’s first sellable bar arrives well over a decade after it switches on