Active volcano in Antarctica that emits $6,000-worth of gold each day

Despite climate change threatening the ice caps, Antarctica is still well known as being the coldest place on Earth.

It is so cold on the continent, that the lowest recorded temperature there was a lethally freezing -129 degrees fahrenheit.

But amongst the bitterly cold climate is some red-hot volcanic activity that is also pretty lucrative.

The volcano spits out $6,000 worth of gold every day (Doug Allan/Getty)

There are 138 volcanoes in Antarctica and, while most of these are dormant, there are around eight or nine that are considered to be active.

Researchers have discovered that the frozen land was destroyed by huge eruptions during the last ice age, which ended 25,000 years ago.

Its tallest active volcano is Mount Erebus, standing at 12,448 ft and is the southernmost active volcano on Earth.

It’s this volcano where a very strange discovery was made…

Mount Erebus regularly spews out gas on a daily basis but scientists have found that in the gas are tiny crystals of gold.

Each day, the volcano lets out around 80 grams of gold worth about $6,000.

Mount Erebus is Antarctica's tallest active volanco (MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

The literal gold dust has been found over 600 miles away from Erebus and - while it might be the most valuable - it's not the only thing emitted from the giant.

It is also known to throw out molten rocks, which are called volcano bombs, and steam.

The volcano is probably most well remembered though for the Mount Erebus disaster that took place in 1979.

During the time, Air New Zealand had launched a program to allow passengers to fly over Antarctica on a sight-seeing flight before returning to Auckland, New Zealand.

It was on one of these flights where the plane crashed head-on into the side of the volcano, killing all 257 people onboard.

That morning, it was cloudy, but the tour went ahead and pilot Captain Jim Collins attempted a descent to around 2,000 ft by spiraling downwards in two large loops.

The plane carrying family members of the Erebus victims touched down in Antarctica for a memorial service in 2011 in Antarctica (Ross Land/NZPA-Pool/Getty Images)

It was during this maneuver when the plane collided into the volcano, killing everyone within an instant.

Rescue teams made a chilling discovery at the site that some passengers had cameras with intact film and photos had been taken just seconds before impact.

The photographs revealed that there was visibility at the time of the crash so it wasn’t possible that the volcano had been hidden by clouds.

Instead, it’s thought that the reason for the fatal incident was a ‘whiteout’, where the ice on the volcano had made it invisible.

The pilot was likely unable to determine the distance of the ice and it had appeared to him as snow on the ground below.

In 2011, the New Zealand government flew family members of the victims to Scott Base in Antarctica for a memorial service.

The volcano’s name is fitting as Erebus is taken from Greek mythology - the god of a dark region of the underworld and the personification of darkness.