Quantifying the influence of grain top size and mass on a sample preparation protocol

Sampling theory provides the framework to identify and statistically characterize the error associated to a given preparation protocol. According to the theory, sampling error depends on the mass of the sample extracted and most consequentially on its grain size distribution. Broken ore particle top size is a relevant parameter to be considered in order to achieve a desirable precision in a sampling protocol. This paper investigates the error in sample preparation due to the mass of sample extracted and its top size. An experiment using four different preparation procedures was used and the error associated to each of these procedures was calculated. The values of the error experimentally obtained were compared to the values forecasted by Gyʹs equation. The experiment demonstrates that sampling theory precision limits were valid. Results also show that precision in preparation is better achieved by sample grain-size reduction before splitting.