Abstract: In combination with the Bagnold's shearing theory and the principle of Markov process,a mathematical model of sluice type's gravity concentrators has been developed based on the transfer probabilities of mineral particles.According to the transfer probabilities,the quanti- tative relationship between the final separation results and feed variables has been established and verified by experimental data.The availability of this model is vital for process design and optimization or mill control of gravity concentration circuits.

Key words: gravity concentration, mineral processing, stochastic process, Markov process, sediment transport