The Mining Plant Uranium Ore Discriminator (MPUOD) was developed for the selective mining of surface uranium-ore deposits. The MPUOD identifies ore whose grade is above the selected ore-grade threshold, so it can be selectively mined and loaded onto a truck.
How it works
The MPUOD detects gamma radiation by a Gamma Detector Unit (GDU) situated in front of the blade of the mining plant. The GDU detects the gamma radiation emitted from a 2 m wide “strip” of ore. It contains one pair of shielded gamma-radiation detectors (GRDs) coupled with a high-voltage / amplifier board.
The total gamma count is processed by a microcontroller-based Discriminator Control Panel (DCP) inside the mining-plant operator cabin: the gamma pulses are counted in a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5-minute counting window, the background count is subtracted from the total count, and the net count is multiplied by the count-rate-to-ore-grade conversion factor. The average U₃O₈ grade (ppm) is displayed on the LCD.
The MPUOD has 5 uranium-ore-grade thresholds (OGs), programmed by four momentary switches below the LCD of the DCP.
For simplicity of operation, the 5 OGs are also identified by 5 different- colour LEDs. The operator reports by radio to the truck driver the “colour” of the ore grade that was loaded, and the truck driver dumps the ore on the stockpile that has the same colour coding.
To increase the mining rate, it is recommended to use the MPUOD in association with the RDS GPS U-Grade Survey Monitor (UGSM). The UGSM is used to “map” the ore grade of the surface of the uranium ore body. The iso- curves of ore grades are digitised so that a mining plant equipped with a GPS can mine uranium ore more selectively.
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