Density tracers are supplied in the form of cubes, prisms or rhomboids. Sizes range from 0.8 mm to 20 mm (within ± 0.1 mm). Specific gravities increase in steps of 0.1 from 1.20 to 4.20 (within ± 0.01), but in steps of 0.05 in the range 2.80 to 3.30. Other shapes, sizes and specific gravities are available upon request. The new range of ferromagnetic density tracers facilitates recovery after passing through the plant.

Density and magnetic tracers track the recovery of valuable products

Efficient recovery is absolutely essential when recovering valuable products from a crushed host ore or alluvial gravels and the processes used for this purpose have to be optimally tuned and checked regularly to ensure that this goal is being achieved.

A standard and inexpensive measurement technique is to pass tracers with characteristics similar to the valuable product through the process circuit, so operators can assess whether the actual product recovery achieved matches the anticipated recovery and, if necessary, make adjustments to the process to attain the anticipated optimal recovery. Often a weekly check is advisable to ensure that valuable product is not being rejected to waste by the process plant.

Bateman Engineering manufactures and supplies both density and magnetic tracers for this purpose. The tracers are virtually handmade using epoxy resin with special formulations of additives to adjust the densities and magnetic properties, as required by the process. The resin is robust to ensure that the tracers can make many passes through a plant.

Strict quality control is maintained and the tracer particles are machined to an exact size and shape. They are brightly coloured so they can easily be seen against the background of the host ore and colour coded according to density or magnetic properties.

Density tracers are primarily used by operators of dense-media separation (DMS) cyclone plants, but also of other beneficiation plants exploiting density differentials in the processed material. For example, when recovering diamonds, the optimal cut point of the cyclone occurs at a specific gravity of between 3.1 and 3.2; if too high, diamonds could be lost and if too low, there will be an overload of waste in the recovery circuit. The use of density tracers can determine the cut point accurately and reveal whether there is a need to modify the dense medium or adjust or even refurbish the cyclone or its pump.

Plant operators worldwide have found a wide application for tracers when processing particularly precious stones such as diamonds, emeralds and sapphires, but also in gravity-separation processes involving platinum metals, chromite, andalusite, base minerals and even coal. Buyers range from operators of large industrial plants to small diamond pan-plant operators to laboratories and academic research institutes.

Magnetic tracers are used to track mainly the separation of heavy minerals, where minerals with weak magnetic properties are separated from those with para- and diamagnetic characteristics. Tracer sizes range from 1.5 mm to 16 mm, with magnetic susceptibilities from 20 to 4,000.

Stocks of the standard ranges of Bateman Density and Magnetic Tracers are maintained and orders are fulfilled quickly. Client requests for special sizes, shapes, colours or specific gravities are also catered for speedily.

Please contact Arjan Leemans, Procurement Manager, Modular Plants on +27-11-899-9111 or email modular@BatemanEngineering.com.

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