Other Tracers and Products

Apart from our standard classes of tracers and magnets, Partition Enterprises has wide experience and capabilities in circuit performance testing. Please Contact Us to discuss any requirements in respect of the products listed below.

Tracers of Low and High Densities

0.5 to 6.0 g/cc

Large and Small Tracers

Partition Enterprises has manufactured cubic density tracers with edge lengths up to 128mm. Our smallest standard cubic density tracers are 1mm on each edge. We can go a little smaller, but one needs to consider the relationship between the size of the tracer and the size and number of the incorporated particles which give the tracer the required properties. Statistical issues in respect of those filler particles cause the reliability of tracer density to deteriorate with decreasing size and increasing density. For densities up to about 2.8 g/cc there is the option of scalping out fine "off-density" tracers using float/sink techniques.

"Naturally"-Shaped Tracers

These are designed to mimic the shapes of ore particles and are produced by crushing. To avoid production of flakey or acicular particles, the crushing is undertaken in closed circuit with sieving at a number of aperture sizes. Sizes range from about 40mm down to about 0.5mm, and they are normally used in laboratory or pilot scale installations incorporating dense medium cyclones, jigs, spirals and elutriators. The above issues concerning accuracy of small cubic tracers apply equally to small "naturally"-shaped tracers. In well-operated dense medium cyclones there is usually little difference between a partition curve for ore particles and a curve for cubic tracers of a similar size.

RFID Tracers

In 2002, for a project with Virginia Tech in the USA, Partition Enterprises manufactured 22mm cubic tracers of precise densities, with embedded radio frequency identification tags. Using strategically-located antennae, these could identify themselves in terms, for example, of size and density as they passed certain points in a circuit. They have potential in a number of applications including hands-off generation of partition curves. Partition Enterprises has maintained a watching brief, and believes it should now be feasible to produce reliable tracers as small as 10mm.

Hydrophobic Tracers

These can be useful for testing grease tables and grease belts in diamond recovery. Partition Enterprises Luminescence Index tracers are useful in this regard. Many operators use grease separation as a scavenging operation following X-ray sorters. Low-luminescence LI tracers may be rejected (quite correctly) by the X-ray sorters, but recovered by the grease separator.

Magnetic Index Tracers

These are tracers with controlled levels of ferromagnetism (the property which causes attraction to a magnet).

Transparency Index Tracers

For sorters which assess particles for transparency to light.

Breakage Index Tracers

These may be of interest to diamond producers with concerns that process units may subject diamonds to impacts that cause breakage. Partition Enterprises could develop tracers with varying degrees of "toughness" or resistance to impact breakage.

Non Standard Tracers

Partition Enterprises will sometimes agree to develop tracers for particular purposes that are not from any of our standard ranges. In these cases we will engrave each tracer with a dot on 2 opposite faces as an indicator that it is not from a standard range.

Tracer Dispensers

 A Tracer Dispenser is used to add spiking or other tracers to a circuit at pre-determined intervals.