The Swedes decided to drill. The drill penetrated to 6.8 kilometers before it got stuck. No significant methane had been found. But the story is not finished, at least as far as Gold is concerned. Another, deeper hole will vindicate him, he believes.
Skeptics say they are derived from the drilling fluids.
Tons of micrometer-sized grains of magnetite were taken out of the hole. Gold opines that these grains were synthesized by bacteria subsisting upon seeping methane at a depth of 6 kilometers. Russian drillers on the Kola Peninsula report the existence of intriguing circulating fluids as far down as 12 kilometers. Despite the problems and disappointments at the first hole, some Swedish investors seem ready to finance a second hole at the Siljan Ring. Anomalies in Geo logy .