Mining shovel with compositional sensors

A mining shovel system, comprising:

• a mining shovel having an upper wall portion, a mouth, and an interior region;
• and
• a down-looking sensor positioned on the upper wall portion at the mouth of the mining shovel bucket, the down-looking sensor facing the interior region of the mining shovel bucket,
• wherein the down-looking sensor is configured to collect data related to a characteristic of mining material as the mining material is loaded into the mining shovel bucket.

A method of classifying and sorting mining material, comprising:

• receiving mining material in an interior region of a mining shovel bucket;
• sensing data associated with a characteristic of the mining material within the interior region using a down-looking sensor, wherein the down-looking sensor is positioned on an upper wall portion of the mining shovel bucket and faces the interior region of the mining shovel bucket;
• and
• identifying the characteristic of the mining material using the data gathered from sensing the mining material.

A method of classifying and sorting mining material comprising:

• loading mining material into a mining shovel bucket;
• sensing, using a down-looking sensor, data related to a characteristic of the mining material when the mining material is within an interior region of the mining shovel bucket, wherein the down-looking sensor is positioned at or proximate to a mouth of the mining shovel bucket;
• and
• identifying the characteristic of the mining material using the data gathered from sensing the mining material.