The Earth’s core is rich with a reservoir of gold that could be worth a whopping $169.6 sextillion.
And to make things even better - it is leaking out through the mantle towards the surface.
New research has uncovered that there are precious metals hidden away in the Earth’s crust and scientists have literally struck gold.
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In a press release from Göttingen University in Germany, geochemist Nils Messling said: “Our data confirmed that material from the core, including gold and other precious metals, is leaking into the Earth's mantle above.”
And that’s just a fraction of the gold Earth has got hidden at the core with experts saying that it might be enough to cover the entirety of land on Earth in gold that is 20 inches thick.
But how much could all of this gold be worth? According to AI, we are sitting on a fortune.
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ChatGPT estimated that the vast amount of the gold is believed to ‘have been sequestered in the core during Earth's formation, as heavy elements like gold sank into the molten iron core’.
The AI then calculated how much this gold is worth, explaining that the total gold in the core is ‘1.6 quadrillion tons = 1.6 × 10¹⁵ tons = 1.6 × 10¹⁸ kilograms’ and the current gold price is ‘approximately $106 per gram, or $106,000 per kilogram’.
ChatGPT went on to say that this ‘equates to approximately $169.6 sextillion USD’.
The AI bot continued: “However, it's important to note that this gold is located about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) beneath the Earth’s surface, making it inaccessible with current technology. Moreover, if such a vast quantity of gold were suddenly introduced into the market, it would drastically reduce its value due to oversupply.
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“The recent studies revealing traces of core-derived materials in volcanic rocks, particularly from Hawaii, suggest that over geological timescales, small amounts of these precious metals have been transported from the core to the surface. This ongoing process provides valuable insights into Earth's internal dynamics and the distribution of elements.”
Geochemist Matthias Willbold from Göttingen University added: “Our findings not only show that the Earth's core is not as isolated as previously assumed.
“We can now also prove that huge volumes of superheated mantle material – several hundred quadrillion metric tons of rock – originate at the core-mantle boundary and rise to the Earth's surface to form ocean islands like Hawaii.”