The trial started in May after the ore sorter was supplied and commissioned at the mine by Outotec and Tomra.
The facility uses X-Ray Transmission (XRT) technology to scan every feed particle and identify the relative atomic density differences within particles. High-grade particles are then pneumatically separared from the unwanted material.
The sorting process occurs after primary crushing and it is expected to reduce the amount of non-ore going into the grinding and flotation processes by about 50%, thus increasing the energy efficiency.
Leftover barren material is used as rock-fill in the underground mine.