{"id":1979,"date":"2026-03-29T15:19:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:19:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:19:40","slug":"sa-drc-critical-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/03\/29\/sa-drc-critical-metals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruthenium and tantalite prices climb on tight supply"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-summary\" style=\"background: #F9F9F9; border-left: 4px solid #1e6bb8; padding: 16px 20px; margin-bottom: 24px; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 0.95em; line-height: 1.6; color: #212223;\">\n<ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 20px;\">\n<li>Ruthenium and tantalite prices have risen to multi\u2011year highs on strong global demand.<\/li>\n<li>South Africa remains the main source of ruthenium through its platinum group metals mines.<\/li>\n<li>The DRC leads global supply of tantalite, used in capacitors for electronics and AI hardware.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>PRICES for ruthenium and tantalite have climbed to multi\u2011year highs as global demand increases and supply remains tight.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain the world\u2019s main producers of these metals.<\/p>\n<p>Recent market data shows ruthenium trading at about $1,750 per ounce, supported by rising use in electronics and cloud\u2011computing hardware. The metal is part of the platinum group metals family and is produced mainly as a by\u2011product of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/03\/29\/glencore-power-crisis\/\">South Africa\u2019s<\/a> platinum mines.<\/p>\n<p>The DRC leads global supply of tantalite, which is refined into tantalum for capacitors used in smartphones, aerospace systems, and artificial\u2011intelligence hardware. Demand has grown as manufacturers expand production of high\u2011performance electronics.<\/p>\n<p>Both metals are considered critical for modern technology. They are used in products ranging from data\u2011centre servers to advanced sensors and high\u2011temperature components.<\/p>\n<p>Ruthenium supply remains tight because output depends on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/darwendale-platinum-project-seeks-partners-for-500m-development\/\">platinum mining<\/a>. South Africa\u2019s platinum sector has faced lower production in recent years due to operational and cost pressures.<\/p>\n<p>Tantalite supply from the DRC is affected by transport, security, and regulatory challenges. These issues continue to limit the amount of material reaching global buyers.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/02\/14\/us-allies-advance-battery-metals-deals-to-counter-china\/\">dominance in ruthenium comes from its large platinum group metals<\/a> operations. The country hosts some of the world\u2019s biggest PGM mines, which produce ruthenium during ore processing.<\/p>\n<p>The DRC\u2019s position in tantalum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2025\/12\/19\/zimbabwe-moves-to-formalise-artisanal-mining-as-small-scale-miners-supply-68-of-gold\/\">supply is linked to its rich mineral<\/a> deposits in eastern and central regions. These areas have long produced coltan, the ore that contains tantalum.<\/p>\n<p>Prices for both metals have risen sharply in recent months. Market analysts say the trend reflects strong demand from electronics and AI industries, combined with limited new supply.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturers are expected to continue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2025\/11\/13\/riozim-output-plunges-in-2024-as-miner-seeks-20-million-equity-lifeline\/\">seeking stable sources of these minerals<\/a>. Ruthenium is used in chip resistors and hard\u2011disk drives, while tantalum is essential for compact capacitors in smartphones and electric\u2011vehicle systems.<\/p>\n<p>The rise in prices has renewed attention on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/africa-rare-earth-supply\/\">Africa\u2019s role in global technology supply<\/a> chains. South Africa and the DRC remain central to the production of minerals needed for advanced electronics.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ruthenium and tantalite prices have risen to multi\u2011year highs on strong global demand. South Africa remains the main source of ruthenium through its platinum group metals mines. The DRC leads global supply of tantalite, used in capacitors for electronics and AI hardware. PRICES for ruthenium and tantalite have climbed to multi\u2011year highs as global demand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"South Africa and the DRC remain key sources of the metals as demand from electronics and AI manufacturers increases","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"4","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":{"paragraph_limit":"2","enable_premium_post":"0","enable_free_post":"0","override_paragraph_limit":"0","enable_preview_post":"0","enable_preview_video":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[368,377,58,369,374],"tags":[423,137,422],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-critical-minerals","category-central-africa","category-commodities-prices","category-platinum-group-metals","category-southern-africa","tag-commodities","tag-critical-minerals","tag-platinum-group-metals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions\/1986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}