Demonstration of a Magnetic Resonance Analyser for Bulk Copper Ore Sorting

The sensor is based on certain classes of Magnetic Resonance (MR), that although well understood for many decades, to the author's knowledge have not previously been exploited for on-line quantitative measurement in the mining industry. The sensor was demonstrated at Newcrest Mining's Ridgeway Deeps Mine in NSW Australia, configured for the detection of the common copper mineral chalcopyrite (CuFeS2). The sensor is suitable for the rapid sensing (within seconds) of selected minerals in primary ore streams at many thousands of tonnes per hour, at grades well below typical mine cutoffs. The sensor can therefore enable bulk sorting in the high tonnage mining regime common in the industry. It can equally be applied to cases involving much lower tonnage, where smaller groups of rocks can be sensed and rapidly sorted.
All Authors:

Peter Coghill, Nick Cutmore, Jochen Lehmann-Horn1, Bojan Lovric, Al McEwan, Dragoslav Milinkovic, David Miljak, Gif Roberts and Richard Yong

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Mineral Resources,
New Illawarra Rd, Menai NSW 2234 Australia

1Current Address: Bruker Biospin, Zürich, Switzerland