Ruthenium
Also: Ru, Ruthenium (PGM)
Ruthenium (Ru) is a scarce platinum group metal prized for outstanding hardness and corrosion resistance, deployed mainly in electronics and as an alloying additive.
Ruthenium is a member of the platinum group metals (PGM) and ranks among the scarcest elements found in the Earth's crust. The Russian-Baltic chemist Karl Ernst Claus first isolated it in 1844 and gave it a name drawn from the Latin word for Russia. For all its technical value, ruthenium enjoys far less public recognition than platinum or palladium.
Properties
A silvery-white, brittle transition metal, ruthenium combines a high density of 12.45 g/cm3 with a strikingly elevated melting point of 2,334 degC. Its trademark feature is sheer hardness: adding as little as 0.1% ruthenium markedly stiffens platinum and titanium. It shrugs off nearly all acids, and even aqua regia makes only slow headway against it.
Extraction and occurrence
Ruthenium comes almost entirely as a by-product of nickel and copper mining, chiefly in South Africa (the Bushveld Complex) and Russia. Estimated worldwide output runs to around 35 tonnes a year - a sliver of what gold production yields. Affinage proceeds through intricate hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical routes.
Use
| Application area | Share (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Electronics industry (resistors, HDD) | ~50% |
| Electrochemistry / chlor-alkali electrolysis | ~15% |
| Alloys (platinum, titanium, tungsten) | ~15% |
| Chemical catalysis | ~10% |
| Other | ~10% |
Within electronics, ruthenium goes into chip resistors and coats hard-disk platters as an antiferromagnetic coupling layer. In catalytic converter technology it acts as an active ingredient for ammonia synthesis and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. Used as an alloying additive, it lends platinum jewellery notable resistance to wear.
Market significance and price discovery
Trading in ruthenium is thin and murky: there is no exchange fixing on the model of the LBMA fixing used for gold or silver. Prices get hammered out one-on-one between producers and buyers, then reported by analysis houses such as Johnson Matthey and Argus Media. The historical prices reveal wild swings - at times ruthenium changed hands for under USD 40 per troy ounce, yet it also spiked above USD 700 (2007). With no standardised trading products and scant liquidity, the market is all but out of reach for ordinary investors. (Not investment advice.)
In brief
Ruthenium is a cutting-edge industrial metal that plays an irreplaceable part in electronics and catalysis, while barely registering on the investor's radar. Keeping tabs on the price development of related PGM offers a roundabout read on the ruthenium market - but investing in it directly stays the domain of institutional players and specialists.