SEPARATOR AND METHOD FOR THE DRY BENEFICIATION OF DIAMOND ORE

摘要

The invention relates to separating or sorting ores using a dry method, and more particularly to the dry beneficiation of diamond ore using radiation methods, specifically by measuring secondary emission of characteristic gamma rays arising under the effect of fast tagged neutrons which make it possible to detect a diamond hidden in a piece of ore prior to crushing, thus making it possible to prevent damage to large diamonds. A separator comprises an ore supply system with vessels having a shape that corresponds to the shape of a tagged neutron flux, for example a truncated pyramid, a neutron unit comprising a neutron generator with a built-in multi-component alpha detector and gamma-ray detectors, and also an ore separating system, a power system, a data analysis system, and a control system. In particular, a feed hopper with an ore metering device is situated at the beginning of the ore supply system, and an ore separating system that provides for the contents of the vessels to be channeled into concentrate and tailings is situated at the end of the ore supply system. An additional group of gamma-ray detectors is provided inside the region where the tagged neutron flux exerts a direct effect, said gamma-ray detectors being equipped with a thermal correction system. The invention is directed toward solving the technical problem of increasing diamond recovery from diamond ore while providing reliable diamond detection and minimizing concentrate yield.