About Partition Enterprises

In 1980, Chris Wood, along with two colleagues at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre developed prototype density tracers for coal-washing dense medium cyclones.

To make them available to the industry, Partition Enterprises Pty Ltd. (PEPL) was established and subsequently many other forms of density tracers were developed for use in coal and mineral processing plants including diamonds, iron ore, gemstones and magnesite.

Until 1999 PEPL's sole activity was the manufacture and sale of density tracers. We are the world leader - particularly in coal and also in minerals for tracers larger than 10mm, exporting to South Africa, the USA, Italy, the United Kingdom and Indonesia.

Density Tracers are available in many sizes. Some sizes and their typical applications are:

• 64mm for dense medium baths and jigs
• 32mm for dense medium baths, jigs and dense medium cyclones
• 16mm and 8mm for dense medium cyclones and water-only-cyclones
• 4mm and smaller for spirals, water-only-cyclones, elutriators and dense medium cyclones treating diamond ores.

They can also be used for research applications. For further properties see price list.  

Chris has considerable experience in Coal Industry research, production and plant design. He is a Chartered Practicing Engineer and his professional interests include design, modelling, instrumentation, control and simulation of coal preparation plants. Unit operations of particular interest include dense medium separators, spirals, jigs, on-stream analysers (the Coalscan ash monitor), dewatering and systems for the distribution of raw coal between parallel processing modules. Training and technology transfer activities have included the production of handbooks, videos and expert systems. Chris maintains a broad perspective to facilitate optimisation of pit-to-port operations.

Chris left the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre in 1997 and spent two years with PT Kaltim Prima Coal in Borneo. Upon returning to Australia he expanded PEPL's activities to include consulting services in several interest areas, including a service for assessing and maintaining the performances of density separators in existing plants.

Since that time PEPL has undertaken research and plant optimisation for Allied Coal Pty Ltd, the Australian Coal Association, Capricorn Coal Management Pty Ltd, Coal Operations Australia Limited, Greenbank Terotech Pty Ltd, Henry Walker Eltin Contracting Pty Ltd, Massey Coal (5 US plants), Sedgman Pty Ltd, South Blackwater Coal Limited, US Department of Energy, Warkworth Mining Limited, Mount Thorley Operations and Glencore. In late 2004, PEPL suspended consulting services to concentrate on the development of new and improved density tracers and luminescence tracers.