Patent ID: 8878090

Claim:
A method for separating minerals by their fluorescent properties, comprising the steps of: irradiating material in a segregated material flow with a plurality of pulses of excitation radiation sufficient to excite a slow fluorescent component of the material, recording a signal representing an intensity of the mineral fluorescence signal during the plurality of pulses of excitation radiation and during a period of time after a preset time after irradiation of the material so as to measure both fast and slow components of mineral luminescence of the material, determining a concentration criterion value of the material using the signal and comparing the concentration criterion value with a first preset threshold for use during excitation of the material and comparing the concentration criterion with a second preset threshold for use a preset time after the end of excitation of the material, and separating and recovery of minerals from the material when the concentration criteria exceeds the first preset threshold during excitation of the material, separating and recovery of minerals from the material when the concentration criteria exceeds the second preset threshold after the preset time after the end of excitation of the material by the plurality of pulses.