Heavy mineral harvesting methods and systems

Abstract

A method for harvesting heavy mineral from a regolith may comprise: flowing a layer of particulate feedstock over a distribution chute having an uneven surface texture, the particulate feedstock comprising first particulates and second particulates that differ by at least one property; changing a momentum of individual particulates in the particulate feedstock while flowing over the distribution chute and/or after leaving the distribution chute such that the first particulates and the second particulates, on average, travel different lateral distances from the distribution chute; and collecting the particulate feedstock in a plurality of bins, wherein at least two of the bins are laterally spaced differently from the distribution chute.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.