Ore Sorting
What is ore sorting?
Ore-sorting is a process for upgrading mineral bearing rock. Current technology supplies three different types of ore sorting: Bulk, Conveyor and Particle. Current studies indicate Idaho Copper will most likely use a combination of the three types of sorting in order to improve mill feed grades and potentially lower costs.
Bulk ore sorting?
Bulk sorting involves two distinct areas: namely blast control and bucket scanning. In blast control areas of waste and sort/mill feed can be separated by controlled blasting such that material can be separated into zones based on grade.  Bucket scanning involves using X-Ray Fluorescent (XRF) sensors placed in the load bucket of a shovel. The material can then be directed to the appropriate location based on the grade value of the entire bucket. ShovelSense technology manufactured by MineSense is currently being successfully used in existing large-scale, open pit operations to separate material and improve mill feed.
Conveyor ore sorting?
Conveyor sorting involves scanning crushed material on a conveyor belt or within a shovel load, using various scanning techniques to identify the grade of bulk sections of the mined material. For example, bulk sorters are currently in operation that can scan material crushed at 60 mm size (2.5 inches) at the rate of 5,000 tons per hour using Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis scanner (PGNAA).
This allows the feed to be divided into blocks /packets of various sizes depending on the width and speed of the conveyor belt and the scan time. The material can then be separated using flow diverters into three grades waste, middlings and mill feed. Middlings can be forwarded for additional finer level sorting.
Particle ore sorting?
Particle sorting is typically between 250mm and 10mm (1 to 4 inches) and involves evaluating the mineral content of individual rocks as they pass through a sensor then separating them into Accept and Reject fractions, based on pre-determined selection criteria.
Why does ore sorting work on Idaho Copper?
Geological zones vary from 0% to 40% of the material containing the grade. The examples below show a drill intersection on the edges of the molybdenum core zone. Use the radio buttons to turn the sorting on and off.
The section from Hole 11-59 from 1630 to 1640 feet assayed 0.175% MoS2. note: US$/ton is an Recovered Value as used in independent 43-101 report.
Unsorted
Sorted
Approximately 10% of the interval contains the actual molybdenum veins which are dark grey to black in the picture. The core boxes are 2 feet long. Breaking it into 2 to 3 inch pieces is done to simulate primary crushing. Sorting would initially identify the mill feed (red – 22.5%) within the interval and that would be mill feed, secondary sorting would identify the stockpile (yellow – 30.5%), and remaining material is waste (blue – 47%). This would result in a grade of 0.583% MoS2 for the mill feed, and 0.134% MoS2 for the stockpile.
