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mineral processing. The sorting process provided zinc and lead recoveries of 79.2 % and 87 %, respectively, which were still high. The metal content in the waste fraction was acceptable and below the mine’ s cutoff grade of 0.55 % Zn + Pb. Therefore, this sorting process was deemed attractive when compared with the alternative dense media separation process that provided similar results.
Pre-concentration of iron ore is another good example here with the same CXR-1000 sorting unit. In this case the feed material had 58.5 % Fe, which was slightly below the marketable level for high-grade iron ore( usually over 63 % Fe). After sorting, the product was increased to 63.3 % Fe with a yield of over 78 %, which corresponded to 84.3 % metal recovery. The waste fraction was reduced to 30 % and corresponded to only 4.9 % of metal losses, which was very low. The middlings fraction was at 49.8 %( with 10.3 % recovery) and was defined as suitable for further traditional processing( crushing and gravity separation).“ The main benefit from this sorting process was the possibility to generate 78.3 % of the product fraction in the form of iron ore lump with an acceptable Fe level, without any further processing,” Kolacz said.“ Only 12.2 % was defined as necessary to process by traditional methods to increase the iron content to the acceptable level.”
Combined XRT-SWIR sensors
Another combination investigated by Comex is the XRT and SWIR camera for sorting of the 15-45 mm copper ore( sulphide types). In this case the copper concentration in the feed was 0.71 %. When only XRT sensing was applied, the waste fraction still contained
RGB image( left) and hyperspectral camera response( right) indicating different zones of copper ore( green colour)
0.4 % Cu, being uneconomic for this process. After application of the XRT and hyperspectral analysis( SWIR), the copper content in the waste fraction was reduced to 0.02 %. The waste stream yield was 15.6 %, which means the same amount was eliminated from further mineral processing.
High application potential
Detection of difficult and highly disseminated ore particles is difficult by single sensor applications like XRT, yet combining XRT sensors with the visible light cameras and hyperspectral infrared cameras in the SWIR range can aid the process, identifying mineralogical composition of the sorted material instead of singular features. Applying AI models for data analysis further enhances this process. This technological approach can be applied to pre-concentration of REE and critical raw material ores where their usually low concentrations make the current sorting systems less efficient and often not applicable.
“ Consequently, more efficient sorting can make many current mining operations more economic or bring new possibilities for new potential mines, where the current economic or environmental restrictions hinder their operation,” Kolacz concluded.
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