Due to the special physical and chemical properties and relatively low price, the research on ruthenium will be very active, and the application prospect is very bright.

95% of the world's platinum group metals are associated with copper-nickel sulfide ores, and the mining and smelting areas are concentrated in South Africa, Russia, the United States and Canada. Commercially mined platinum group metal mines are mainly Merensky Reef and UG2 chromite layer in Bushveld Complex in South Africa, Norilsk Mine in Russia, Steele in the United States Stillwater Mine, Sudbury Mine in Canada and Great Dyke Mine in Zimbabwe.
In the main platinum group metal ores, the content of ruthenium is much lower than that of platinum. In the Platreef mine in South Africa, the platinum:ruthenium ratio is 10:1; in the Merensky Reef mine and UG2 chromite in South Africa, the platinum:ruthenium ratio is 7:1; the United States In the Stillwater mine, platinum:ruthenium is 4.7:1. The grades of PGMs in the Bushveld Complex in South Africa range from 3.1 to 17.1 g/t, the average grades for PGMs in the Norilsk Mine in Russia are 8.91 g/t, and the Stillwater Complex in the United States has an average grade of 8.91 g/t. The average grade of platinum group metals in the ore body is 25 g/t.