text: Hand-counting is a cheap and easy to conduct method to estimate the liberation characteristics of a bulk sample wither originating from run-of-mine material, a waste dump or for example exploration trenching. Analysis of particles in the size range 10-100mm has been conducted on a total sample mass of 10 tonnes. By visual inspection of trained personnel, a classification of each particle into different bins (e.g. lithology, grade) is possible and the distribution is determined by weighing each bin. A trained professional can quickly estimate the efficiency of a specific detection and process efficiency of sensor-based ore sorting knowing the sensor response of the mineralogy of ore in question and other process efficiency parameters.