A Look Into The Future Of Mineral Beneficiation - New Techniques Which May Find Their Place In Tomorrow's Mills

Methods employed to beneficiate ores utilize relatively few fundamental principles to effect size reduction and concentration. In crushing and grinding only impact and compressive forces with a minor amount of shear are employed. In concentration, gravity, magnetic, electrostatic and flotation constitute the major methods of concentration with minor use of sizing, hand picking and adhesion. This industry, as all others, can expect in the near future to see the development of new techniques for improved efficiency, cost reduction, and exploitation of raw materials hitherto considered unmanageable. NATURAL AND INDUCED RADIOACTIVITY At the Canadian Department of Mines in Ottawa in 1946, C. M. Lapointe developed a picker belt system whereby radioactive ores could be concentrated by electromechanical means. This invention ultimately led to development of what is now refer- red to as the Lapointe Picker and which has been used commercially at Port Radium and Port Hope for the upgrading of jig concentrates. Basically, the system consisted of conveying sized uranium ore on a belt under a radioactivity detection device which in turn electronically operated a kicker or plunger that separated the ore from the gangue constituents. Thus, a new principle for mineral concentration, radioactivity, was introduced commercially.