I experienced this as well, except on a ‘bountiful’ planet.
Same manner as described; Walk away, come back.
For you it was Gold. For me it was Heridium…
An abnormally large stack. I mean it was huge!
Since then, I’ve often wondered what would happen if one of us walked off into the ‘fissure’.
Create a restore point, backup our game file… and then DROP…
Recording video (through OBS) &/or screenshots all the way.
How far would we drop?
How long would we last?
Could we somehow get back?
Jetpack? Gravity? - Reach a limit?
So perhaps in our signaling Hello Games to reopen the “star gates” / the portals they had closed…
We created a massive disturbance in No Man’s Sky; Right down to unraveling the fabrics of realities.
Similar discussion continues here…