Yes the HGO plant already uses flotation tanks (cells) to concentrate the minerals in the ore, into a Cu,Au,Ag concentrate however the ore has to be ground down fine into powder to work in flotation tanks as the minerals are skimmed off as froth from the top of the tanks , which is unlike an ore sorter which probably can sort rock out that is a around 10 mm in size so maybe just gone through a crusher rather than a ball mill and then process further down stream
The ore sorter would have sensors able to distinguish the higher grade ore from lower grade ore and country rock , based on specific features of the rock , ie magnetic attraction , (magnetite) colour , transparency (quartz) or something else
It would mean metallurgical tests to see if the ore had sufficient features to distinguish itself from the country rock
From memory the flotation tanks at HGOs plant near Adelaide were originally used on a Zinc and lead mine up near Derby in WA so guess it would not be hard to move them 100 kms away to one of HGOs prospects.
If they found a sufficient JORC reserve at another site then The issue becomes the cost to erect a new plant and if the flotation cells still have any life in them or are outdated with newer more appropriate technology .
Just my thoughts and I am not a geo
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