Heavy mineral deposits are found as naturally liberated mineral grains, and therefore no comminution is required, just physical separation, to process them. There are common practical problems that producers confront: size variation of grains, the presence of radioactive grains, and rims around grains. As with most mineral processing, dealing with variations is part of the challenge.

Automated Mineralogy is employed to quantify these variations on a particle-by-particle basis. For example, MLA and QEMSCAN® can classify each particle according to its Ti-content, in the case of rutile and ilmenite. For zircon, grain size, shape, and purity often determine the value of the end product. Grains with rims would not normally be detected by traditional analytical techniques, but can be quantified with Automated Mineralogy. These rims can explain recovery issues which can be addressed by implementing additional processing steps.