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Gold is atomically heavier than iron, fusing gold costs energy. The language in the article is ambiguous, but I believe the energy quoted is a cost.

They are engineering their tritium breeding to produce excess neutrons to transmute the mercury to gold.

It's produced from mercury

Right, fusion stops being a net producer of energy on atoms heavier than iron.

A star’s fusion reaction ceases when too much of its core turns to iron.

Mercury is heavier than gold so it's a fission reaction.

Ah yeah, that slid by me.