On-line ore characterisation and sorting

Ore sorting technology has great potential to allow the minerals industry to improve its competitive position through the exploitation of low grade ore reserves and in improved processing operations. The present paper reports on the development of microwave techniques by the CSIRO Division of Minerals to classify iron ore on the basis of predicted metallurgical performance, and the relationship to future ore sorting developments. The use of artificial neural net-based techniques for data analysis and ore classification are described.