We’ve long believed the world’s biggest gold reserve was forever locked inside the Earth’s core — unreachable, buried 3,000 kilometers down. But new research suggests that’s not entirely true.
According to a study published in Nature, precious metals like gold may be leaking from the Earth’s core, rising through magma plumes and eventually reaching the planet’s crust, where we mine them today.
When Earth was young and still molten, heavy elements such as iron and gold sank toward the center, forming the solid inner core and the molten outer core. It’s estimated that over 99.99% of Earth’s gold still lies trapped in this metallic heart.
But the new study found ruthenium isotopes (100Ru) in volcanic rock samples from Hawaii — and these can’t be explained by asteroid impacts or surface processes. Instead, scientists say these isotopes must have originated from the deep interior.
“This is strong evidence that gold and other core materials are leaking upward through the mantle,” said Nils Meschling of the University of Göttingen, co-author of the study. “When we first got the data, we realized — we literally struck gold.”
The upward movement happens through magma plumes rising from the core-mantle boundary, which fuels volcanic activity in hotspots like Hawaii — a process that still continues today.
This discovery not only reveals a hidden gold migration mechanism, but also rewrites what we know about the planet’s deep interior.
So next time you hold a piece of gold, consider this:
It may have traveled thousands of kilometers from the Earth’s core to reach your hand.