Patent Document ID: 9314823
Application ID: 13875105
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for sorting ore from a material-stream overflow, comprising: a first size-classifying stage configured to separate at least a portion of the material stream overflow into at least fine fractions and coarse fractions; a first sorting cascade comprising at least one sorting cell, wherein the first sorting cascade is configured to: receive the coarse fractions; detect content of at least a first desired component from the coarse fractions; and sort, based on a first grade threshold, the coarse fractions into a coarse fraction accept stream and a coarse fraction reject stream; a second sorting cascade comprising at least one sorting cell, wherein the second sorting cascade is configured to: receive the fine fractions; detect content of at least a second desired component from the fine fractions; and sort, based on a second grade threshold, the fine fractions into a fine fraction accept stream and a fine fraction reject stream; a product stream comprising the fine fraction accept stream and the coarse fraction accept stream; a tailings stream comprising the fine fraction reject stream and the coarse fraction reject stream; and a central marshalling computer configured to determine a number of sorting cells in the first sorting cascade by: calculating a probability of correctly determining the content of the first desired component of the coarse fractions using a sensor; calculating a probability of correctly diverting the coarse fractions using a diverter; calculating a utility of the first sorting cascade based on the probability of correctly determining the content of the first desired component of the coarse fractions and the probability of correctly diverting the coarse fractions; and determining the number of the at least one sorting cell in the first sorting cascade based on the calculated utility.