> Is there not a way to synthesize gold, like how diamonds can be synthesized (obviously a different process.)

To convert other forms of carbon into diamond, you just need to simulate the conditions in which diamonds are formed (heat and pressure inside the earth.)

To convert other elements to gold, you just have to simulate the conditions in which gold is formed, which, as a heavy element, I'm pretty sure is reproducing a nuclear process that occurs in large stars or possibly supernovae, i.e., something you can reproduce only on Earth only on a very small scale using particle accelerators (or maybe nuclear weapons.)