Active volcano in Antarctica is spewing out £5,000 worth of gold dust every day

A volcano in Antarctica is spewing out £5,000's worth of gold dust every day and because of how slowly it erupts, the gold is crystallising and forming.

Mount Erebus was discovered in 1841 by Captain Sir James Clark Ross who named it after his boat as he and his crew were sailing by it.

It's the world's southernmost active volcano and one of two active volcanoes in Antarctica out of the 138 on the continent.

Mount Erebus measures 12,448ft (3,794m). It took more than 130 years for the volcano to become active but it's been erupting since 1972, not with lava but a lot of gas and steam.

Inside all of that, there are very small gold dust particles measuring 20 micrometers (0.02mm) with a total of around 80g spewed out daily.

Mount Erebus in Antarctica spews out around 80g of gold every day / James Moore, iStock

The price of gold is currently hovering around £63 per gram, meaning £5,040's worth of gold is being produced every single day.

As the lava comes up and hits the colder air, it crystallises the gold for a few hours before it gets blown into the atmosphere.

It's been found more than 600 miles away from the volcano itself.

Speaking to Live Science, postdoctoral research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University Conor Bacon said: "One of its most interesting features is the persistent lava lake that occupies one of [its] summit craters, where molten material is present at the surface.

"These are actually quite rare, as it requires some very specific conditions to be met to ensure the surface never freezes over."

Not all volcanoes can produce gold because they release gases much more violently and it doesn't allow time for the gold dust to crystallise - Mount Erebus releases its gases slowly enough for this to happen.

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