The X-ray diamond flow sorter located in Stornoway's North Vancouver laboratory is a unit that is based on the property of diamonds to fluoresce when exposed to X-rays. In the X-ray flow sorter, wet heavy mineral concentrate is fed into the unit where it is exposed to X-rays. When a diamond fluoresces, the resulting light is detected by a photo multiplier, amplified, and converted into an electrical signal. This signal is then transmitted to an ejection gate which mechanically separates the diamond from other material and diverts it into a locked canister. The diamonds are then measured, weighed and characterized in the observing laboratory.
The X-ray diamond flow sorter can detect diamonds ranging from 1 mm to 25 mm in size. Although many factors influence the efficiency of diamond recovery, the X-ray flow sorter typically recovers more than 98 per cent of the diamonds present in a sample.