Reflectance Spectroscopy in the Analysis of Mineral Flotation Slurries

Effective monitoring and control of a mineral flotation process necessitates accurate and rapid on-line analysis of the slurry flows. Recent development of lightweight and low-cost visible and near-infrared (VNIR) imaging spectrographs has provided new interesting possibilities also in mineral froth and slurry analysis. The intelligent combination of VNIR reflectance spectroscopy with the traditional X-ray fluorescence analysis for improved measurement of the mineral slurry contents is discussed in this article. The main improvement is the radically reduced sampling interval of the analysis.