The CuMo project in Idaho, USA, is a large scale, low-grade copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit. The mineralization style and early testing of drill core for particle sorting both indicated that there was sufficient heterogeneity in the CuMo mineralization to warrant further investigation for mineral sensing and sorting. This heterogeneity was verified through analysis of drill core data such that bulk sorting could be considered for CuMo. The bulk sorting envisioned for CuMo is conveyor-based, which allows for high-capacity sorting by multi-stage, multi-stream splitting. Three streams come out of the bulk sorting process – a waste stream, a mill feed stream, and a middlings stream that is further processed by particle sorting. The paper describes the analysis techniques for assessing bulk sorting that allow prediction of sorting mass pulls and grade enrichment at the block model level. Study results are shared. Benefits and limitations of the approach are discussed.
