How to copy a partition in OSX?

Most certainly. Disk Utility that comes with OS X is a powerful tool that should be able to handle most (if not all) of your disk management. Here's how to can clone a partition using Disk Utility:

1. Select the partition that you want the clone saved to.
2. On the "Restore" 'tab', drag the partition you want to clone into the "Source" box, and the partition where you want the clone to be saved to into the "Destination" box.
3. Make sure the "Erase destination" checkbox is checked, and then hit "Restore"

In this screenshot, I am making a copy of the partition "Snow Leopard Installer" (which is bootable) and save it onto the "FAT" partition.

It's that simple. Additionally, due to how awesome Disk Utility is, you can use almost any medium as the Source. You can use a CD/DVD, .dmg file, .iso file and many others as the source. It's pretty cool.

You can use Disk Utility to "restore" a volume to another one, which results in a bootable copy.