Magnetic attraction

摘要

WHEN VISITING ERIEZ Magnetics Europe Ltd in Caerphilly, south Wales, I was asked to hand over my wallet and mobile phone at reception. "We have a lot of strong magnets in here," explained Paul Fears, now managing director of Eriez, referring to my credit cards and SIM card. The receptionist took my things and locked the drawer with a loud click. The site is not only a manufacturing and office base for the world's leading producer of magnetic separation technology, but also a test laboratory. In bright clean rooms were technician mixing, floating and vibrating different samples of different minerals from all over the globe. Around the rooms were bags of sampled powder with neatly written labels.