TEXTURAL DESCRIPTORS FOR MULTIPHASIC ORE PARTICLES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5566/ias.v31.p175-184Keywords:
image analysis, linear intercepts method, mineral liberation, mineral processing, texture characterizationAbstract
Monitoring of mineral processing circuits by means of particle liberation analysis through quantitative image analysis has become a routine technique within the last decades. Usually, liberation indices are computed as weight proportions, which is not informative enough when complex texture ores are treated by flotation. In these cases, liberation has to be computed as phase surface exposed to reactants, and textural relationships between minerals have to be characterized to determine the possibility of increasing exposure. In this paper, some indices to achieve a complete texture characterization have been developed in terms of 2D phase contact and mineral surfaces exposure. Indices suggested by other authors are also compared. The response of this set of parameters against textural changes has been explored on simple synthetic textures ranging from single to multiple inclusions and single to multiple veins and their ability to discriminate between different textural features is analyzed over real mineral particles with known internal structure.
References
Amstutz GC, Giger H (1972). Stereological methods applied to mineralogy, petrology, mineral
deposits and ceramics. J Microsc 25-1:145-164.
Castroviejo R, Catalina JC, Bernhardt HJ, Pirard E, Segundo F, Brea C, Pérez-Barnuevo L (2010). A fully automated system for multispectral ore microscopy. 20th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association, 2010 August 21-27; Budapest (Hungary).
Craig J, Vaughan D (1994). Ore Microscopy & Ore Petrography. Editorial John Wiley and sons, Inc. Second Edition. New York – United States of America. 434.
Gaudin AM (1939). Principles of mineral dressing, McGraw- Hill.
Gurland J (1958) The measurement of grain contiguity in two-phase alloys. Trans. Am. Inst. Mining Met. Engrs., 212, p. 452.
Hyksova M, Kalousova A, Saxl I (2012). Early history of geometric probability and stereology. Image Anal Srereol 31:1-16.
Jeulin D (1981). Mathematical morphology and multiphase materials. Proc. 3rd Eur. Symp. on Stereology, Ljubljana, 265-286.
Jones MP, Horton R (1979). Recent developments in the stereological assessment of composite (middling) particles by linear measurements. Proc. 11th Cmwlth. Min. and Met. Cong., pp. 113-122.
Jones MP, Coleman R, Horton R (1978). The assessment of composite particles form linear measurements. Proc. 2nd Eur. Symp. on Quantitative Analysis of microstructures, Caen, pp.182.
Lastra R (2002). A comparison of liberation determinations by particle area percentage and exposed particle perimeter percentage in a flotation concentrator. Journal of Minerals & Materials characterization & engineering, Vol. 1, No.1, pp 31-37.
Pirard E, Bernhardt HJ, Catalina JC, Brea C, Segundo F, Castroviejo R (2008). From Spectrophotometry to Multispectral Imaging of Ore Minerals in Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) Microscopy. 9th. Int. Cong. Appl. Mineralogy, AusIMM, 57-62.
Ramdohr P (1980). The Ore Minerals and their Intergrowths, second Ed. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Russ JC (1990), Computer Assisted Microscopy, Plenum Press, New York.
Russ JC, Dehoff R (2000). Practical Stereology. Plenum Press, New York.
Schneider CL (1995). Measurement and calculation of liberation in continuous milling circuits. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Utah.
