Russell Mineral Equipment (RME) remains busy and growing capacity organically with the current competitive landscape for grinding mill relining systems “fair to robust” in a good sign for the industry, Company Director Cherylyn Russell says.
Speaking to Mining.com.au following RME winning the 2024 Queensland Mining Industry Health & Safety Conference (QMIHSC) Innovation Award, Russell says as RME approaches its 40th anniversary, the award recognises the company for raising safety standards in the mill relining industry.
“Safety is RME’s reason for being – RME was founded in 1985 when our founder John Russell identified a critical industry need to improve the safety of grinding mill relining,” the Company Director tells this news service.
The QMIHSC award acknowledges RME’s Advanced Technology Mill Relining System for its use of automation to eliminate the need for crew to enter the mill during liner exchange, delivering significant safety and commercial outcomes for Customers and the wider industry.
Mill relining is the most specialised and important task in the maintenance of a mineral concentrator. Mill relining dictates shut down times, mill availability, throughput, and therefore, mine site profitability.
RME collaborated with several safety-conscious customers and liner and bolt suppliers. These partnerships presented “many learnings”, ensuring the solution can be adopted at other existing (brownfield) and new (greenfield) sites.
“This development is unique and a world first. It represents the expansion and evolution of the RME Mill Relining System, consistent with RME’s continuous improvement culture as an Original Equipment Manufacturer for 40 years,” the Company Director adds.
Reducing technical and financial risks
In terms of what attributes RME’s Advanced Technology Mill Relining System offers that are unique to the market, Russell says it reduces technical and financial risks, and “roboticises existing technologies and familiar, field-proven tools”.
This user-centric approach simplifies the transition to automation and de-risks complexity compared to unproven technology prototypes.
“Developing this advanced solution was a multi-year R&D effort, spearheaded by RME’s engineering team, and entailing comprehensive engineering studies and site trials,” Russell adds.
RME’s “driving passion” has always been to eliminate fatal risk and visibly, defensibly, and sustainably improve customers’ concentrator performance. As she explains to this news service, RME’s company motto is ‘fast, reliable, safe’.
“This appears on every item in the RME Mill Relining System and safety is our design, manufacturing and user experience intent. Our company culture and focus must be consistent with the industry we serve so we pay particular attention to safety trends and standards in the mining sector,” Russell tells Mining.com.au.
“More than that, one of our strategic focuses is to be recognised for changing the mill relining industry through demonstrable safety leadership, so we are intentional and invested in making safety change for the better.”
RME observes that safety is broadly prioritised by the METS industry, as mining companies and the firms that support them increasingly embrace the balance scorecard approach inherent in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks.
Since its beginnings in 1985, the RME Mill Relining System – a suite of products for every step on the mill relining path – has reduced customers’ relining times and created safer working environments.
Looking ahead, RME remains dedicated to maximising the performance potential of the RME Mill Relining System for its customers – past, present, and future.
“RME is a highly-deliberate business. Our strategic framework ensures we have specific projects and BAU focuses on these trends and others to retain and strengthen our market leadership, and deliver world-class OEM operations and increasingly competitive value to our customers,” Russell says.
Established in 1985, RME has grown to operate in 64 countries, has 12 global sales and service centres and employs more than 450 people worldwide.
RME’s Advanced Technology Mill Relining System addresses the two main phases of mill relining:
worn liner removal and new liner placement and enables the completion of these necessary
maintenance processes without anyone inside the mill.
The centrepiece of RME’s semi-automated mill relining system – the Russell 7 Model AutoMotion Mill Relining Machine (MRM) – adds robotics capabilities to the industry’s most adopted 7-axis liner exchange machine, the Russell 7 MRM. It is complemented by Thunderbolt Skyway, which ‘roboticises’ the operation of Thunderbolt Recoilless Hammers, used for ‘knock in’ on the exterior of the mill.
Over 30 mill relines globally have now used products from RME’s Advanced Technology suite.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: RME
