Abstract:With the depletion of higher-grade deposits, the mining industry faces the challenge of mining lower-grade deposits. Bulk ore sorting can reduce the cost of grinding ore, thereby preventing the expensive disposal of lower-grade waste, while improving the quality of materials reported to processing plants. To improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of rare earth minerals in Bayan Obo. Based on sensor-based sorting technology in primary rare earth minerals and their separation was studied. Results indicated that per-concentrate with rare earth grade of 13.42% and yield recovery of 80.42% was obtained when the excitation voltage is 45KV, the excitation voltage is 40mA, the feeding frequency is 30Hz pair, the peak-to-back ratio is greater than 0.85, the particle size range is 35-75mm, and the separation threshold is 0.55, which provides favorable conditions for the next stage of separation and smelting. And then, an iron grade of 61.16% and yield recovery of 81.61% were obtained by low-intensity magnetic separation of pre-concentrate rare earth minerals. Finally, it was obtained rare earth ore concentrate with a grade of 69.62% and productivity of 20.80%, and recovery of 70.57% by one-roughing-one-cleaning flotation. The results show that X-BOS sorting can improve the grade of selected rare earth minerals, simplify the flotation process, and improve the comprehensive economic benefits of the plant. The research results provide a new idea for improving the efficient utilization of rare earth minerals in Bayan Obo.