Method of sorting mined, to be mined or stockpiled material to achieve an upgraded material with improved economic value

A method of sorting material that comprises:

• (a) determining whether a volume of a material to be mined is upgradable as defined herein and mining the volume of material or determining whether a volume of a material in a stockpile of mined material is upgradable as defined herein;
• and
• (b) dry sorting the mined or stockpiled material that is determined to be upgradable and producing an upgraded material.

A method of mining material that comprises:

• (a) determining whether a volume of material in a stockpile is upgradable, as defined herein;
• and
• (b) dry sorting the stockpiled material that is determined to the upgradable and producing an upgraded material.

A method of blending material to produce a blended product having a target concentration that comprises (a) feeding material to a sorter and sorting the material into streams based on concentration, with one stream being a lower grade stream comprising material below the target concentration and another stream being a higher grade stream comprising material above the target concentration, and combining portions of material from the lower grade stream and the higher grade stream together or separately or in combination with other material streams and producing a product stream having the target concentration.