Russell Mineral Equipment builds 500th machine

Queensland’s Russell Mineral Equipment has celebrated manufacturing its 500th RUSSELL Mill Relining Machine (MRM, pictured) for Australian gold producer Northern Star Resources.

In a major milestone for the 37 year old company, RME designed and completed production of the custom-made machine which was accepted by Northern Star at a ceremony at RME’s headquarters in Toowoomba.

The MRM will service Northern Star’s new SAG mill at its Thunderbox project in the North Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

RME and Norther Star began their relationship at the Kanowna Belle Operations some 30 years ago with the purchase of RUSSELL MRM number five – MRM005.

RME chief customer officer Cherylyn Russell said the company was a proud supplier to the hard rock mining and mineral processing industry, primarily those processing gold and copper.

Russell said: “This milestone is a chance to acknowledge the technology and safety advances of the RME Mill Relining System that enable giant grinding mills to get back to work quicker after regular relining.

“Mill relining is the most specialised maintenance task in the mineral concentrator process and often dictates the length of shutdowns.

“RME’s innovative, customised, robust equipment helps increase mine site profitability, all while improving the safety of the working environment.”

Northern Star own of six RUSSELL MRMs including the 400th RUSSELL MRM commissioned in 2018 at Kanowna Belle, replacing a RUSSELL MRM that had been in operation for 25 years.

The 500th RUSSELL MRM is a RUSSELL 7-axis 6,000kg capacity machine.

It utilises the company’s RME INSIDEOUT Technologies which enable placement and removal of grinding mill liners without any crew working on the charge inside the mill, greatly reducing exposure of personnel to significant hazards.

Since the introduction of the very first RUSSELL 7-axis MRM in 1992, traditional mill relining times have been cut to a quarter and many health and safety hazards have been eliminated.

RME operates in 64 countries, has 12 international sales and service centres and employs more than 450 people worldwide.

Picture: Russell Mineral Equipment

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