A system and method of sorting mineral streams, for example laterite mineral ores, into appropriately classified valuable and waste streams for maximum recovery of value from the mineral stream, e.g., a stream of minerals includes receiving response data indicating reflected, absorbed or backscattered energy from a mineral sample exposed to a sensor, where the mineral sample is irradiated with electromagnetic energy. The system determines spectral characteristics of the mineral sample by performing spectral analysis on the response data of the mineral sample and identifies a composition of the mineral sample by comparing the spectral characteristics of the mineral sample to previously developed spectral characteristics of samples of known composition. The system then generates a sort decision for the mineral sample based on the comparison, where the sort decision is used in diverting the mineral sample to a desired destination e.g. pyrometallurgical treatment stages, or to a waste stream.