Mineral separation encompasses the physical and chemical processes used in ore beneficiation to separate valuable minerals from waste gangue material, exploiting differences in density, magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity, particle size, surface chemistry, or optical properties. Common separation techniques include gravity separation using jigs, spirals, or dense media separation, which is heavily used in both iron ore and diamond processing due to the density contrast between the valuable mineral and host rock; magnetic separation, including low and high intensity magnetic separators, widely applied to upgrade magnetite and hematite iron ores; froth flotation, used extensively for sulphide-associated gold ores and base metal byproducts; electrostatic separation, applied in heavy mineral sands processing; and optical or X-ray transmission sorting, which has become the dominant technology in modern diamond recovery plants because it can identify diamonds based on their unique response to X-rays regardless of size or colour. Mineral separation is the critical bridge between mined ore, which typically has low intrinsic value, and a saleable concentrate or final product, and the selection of separation technology has major implications for plant capital cost, operating cost, and achievable recovery and product grade.
