In many iron ore operations, the majority of the ore has high value (lump) can be extracted with little or no fines (low value), and simply needs to be mined and shipped to the customer. Some mines, however, have areas that contain ore which is highly porous and clay-rich. Others have ore with minor impurities such as silica, alkalis, phosphorous, titanium and chromium.

These attributes are problematic for efficient processing by gravity and magnetic methods, thereby decreasing the quality of the product, and may make an iron ore uneconomic. In these problematic ores, Automated Mineralogy is employed to predict, troubleshoot and improve the smelting performance. Key minerals of interest that can be identified, mapped, and quantified include hematite, magnetite, and goethite, along with apatite (P), quartz and clays (K, Na).