The 2015 USGS Mineral Commodity Survey identifies over 90 minerals, ranging from abrasives to zirconium. Among these, 14 had a U.S. mine production exceeding $1 billion in 2014. The extraction of valuable minerals is a challenging and complex process. Initially, any material covering the deposit, called overburden, must be cleared or tunneled through. Subsequently, the ore is either blasted or cut, then transported to the mill for secondary crushing and grinding, which readies the material for its intended purpose.

In numerous instances, valuable minerals are mixed with gangue, which is commercially worthless material, requiring the separation of the ore. Many separation processes begin with comminution (size reduction), followed by classification (sorting by particle size) for further grinding or the subsequent step, ore concentration. Comminution involves grinding the ore to reduce particle size so that each particle primarily consists of one mineral. These particles are then separated to concentrate the mineral product.

Gravity separation utilizes differences in material mass to separate minerals. Techniques include jigs, sluices, spirals, shaking tables, fine particle separators, and hydrosizers and cyclones. This method is based solely on weight and is influenced by particle size because volume is proportional to weight.

Jigging employs pulsed water flow or a similar method to lift ground material. Larger and heavier particles sink faster between pulses, settling towards the jig's bottom. Therefore, maintaining uniform particle size is crucial to ensure density-based separation rather than size-based separation. The operation and design of jigs depend on the particle sizes being separated.

Sluices and spirals, on the other hand, rely on the difference between viscous drag and buoyancy for particle separation, a difference that is directly linked to particle size. Gravity tables use vibration to separate particles by size and specific gravity, so feeds with narrow size distributions lead to superior separation.

When mineral processing and materials characterization are conducted, various challenges arise. These challenges are addressed by particle analysis, which aids in:

‍Mineral Liberation Assessment: Particle analysis can determine the liberation of valuable minerals from the ore matrix, crucial for optimizing grinding and separation processes.

‍Size Distribution: It provides information on the particle size distribution within a sample, vital for ensuring that the material meets size specifications for downstream processing.

‍Mineral Identification: By analyzing particles, one can identify the minerals present in a sample, aiding in the understanding of ore composition and processing requirements.

‍Process Optimization: Particle analysis helps optimize processes like grinding, flotation, and classification by providing insights into the effects of particle size and mineralogy.

‍Quality Control: It is used for quality control in mining operations and processing plants to ensure that the final product meets the required specifications.

‍Environmental Impact Assessment: Particle analysis can assess the environmental impact of mining and processing operations by analyzing the size and composition of particles released into the environment.

Our CEO, Mike Benavides, is a passionate mining engineer who noticed that particle size analysis in the industry is slow, inefficient, and often of low quality.

That's why we founded Mineprism: to build an AI and robotics solution that can analyze particles faster than the human eye and recognize the shape of rocks.

Our solution doesn't require a well-trained analyst or any expertise.

Our Artificial Intelligence handles everything, so you don't even need to add a reference object.

Whether you want to know the size of every particle on your conveyor belt or the quality of your blasting, you know where to find us.

Today, we are present on three continents. We personally travel to every customer site, and we build all hardware and software ourselves. If you value the highest quality, talk to us and accelerate your mining operations today.