COMPARISON OF STEREOLOGICAL CORRECTION PROCEDURES FOR LIBERATION MEASUREMENTS

The stereological errors that are associated with the measurement of t he liberation distribution of mineral particles by microscopic examina tion of sections have led to the development of several correction pro cedures, including the use of large sections, Hill's fast approximatio n, Barbery's correction and the PARGEN correction. The robustness of t hese procedures was examined by comparing their ability to reconstruct the true liberation distribution on the basis of sectioning data from computer-generated spheres. The results indicate that the flexibility of a correction procedure is related to the assumptions that it makes concerning the continuity of the liberation distribution, locked-part icle characteristics and ore texture, Overall, the large-sections corr ection appeared to be the most generally applicable. The Hill fast app roximation performed well, but this was probably due to the partial in corporation of the sphere model into the procedure. The performance of the PARGEN and Barbery corrections varied from case to case.