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Comparison of Methods for the Measurement of Linear Grade Distributions in Liberation Analysis
Author(s) -
Lin Chen L.,
Miller Jan D.,
Herbst John A.,
Rajamani Kuppuswamy
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
particle and particle systems characterization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-4117
pISSN - 0934-0866
DOI - 10.1002/ppsc.19870040116
Subject(s) - microprobe , analytical chemistry (journal) , chalcopyrite , distribution (mathematics) , representation (politics) , statistics , sample (material) , mathematics , mineralogy , materials science , copper , chemistry , chromatography , mathematical analysis , metallurgy , politics , political science , law
Abstract An evaluation was made to assess whether linear grade distribution measurements determined from polished sections of randomly oriented particles can be used to estimate the extent of liberation for multiphase particles of specified size. Two techniques, optical image analysis and microprobe analysis, were used to establish the linear grade distributions for samples of different composition from a copper porphyry flotation circuit and these two were found to be equivalent. An estimate of the variance in the experimental data was made by measuring the average chalcopyrite content in these samples and comparing the results to chemical assays. The statistical significance of the linear grade distribution data obtained by optical image analysis was assessed and, for a given accuracy, the number of particles required to obtain an unbiased representation of the sample was determined.