Microwave infrared ore sorting of screen rejected rocks based on their content of iron and copper sulfide in Sarcheshmeh copper complex,Iran,Kerman

Abstract

Feasibility study using microwave-IRT sorting technique for preconcentration of oversize screen rejected ores in primary mills of concentration units of Sarcheshmeh copper complex was investigated in this study. Three size fraction samples were exposed to microwave radiation followed by thermography imaging. Temperature rise of samples were compared with their element grades as provided by XRF analysis. Sortability performance index was computed for each size fraction and cumulative mass copper recovery was plotted for them. At first, the statistical method of cluster analysis (CA) was employed to study the thermographic data. The results of this analysis, in addition to the confirmation of previous findings on the relationship between temperature rise of the samples and their content of iron and copper sulfides showed that the ratio was proportional to the grade of iron and copper sulfide. Finally, it was shown that sorting this rejected stream using MW/IRT method is feasible and beneficial.