18 March 2021

RME celebrates 500TH RUSSELL Mill Relining Machine

Today, RME celebrates manufacturing the 500th RUSSELL Mill Relining Machine for gold producer Northern Star Resources Ltd.

Today, RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT celebrates the manufacturing of the 500th RUSSELL Mill Relining Machine for gold producer Northern Star Resources Ltd.

In a major milestone, RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT (RME) has designed and completed production of its 500th Mill Relining Machine (MRM) for the global-scale Australian gold producer Northern Star Resources Ltd (Northern Star).

This custom-made RUSSELL MRM was accepted by Northern Star at a ceremony at RME’s global headquarters in Toowoomba, Queensland on Friday 18 March 2022. This 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. Northern Star are the proud owners of six RUSSELL MRMs including the 400th RUSSELL MRM commissioned in 2018 at Kanowna Belle. The 400th machine replaced a RUSSELL MRM that had been in operation at Kanowna Belle for 25 years.

The 500th RUSSELL MRM is a RUSSELL 7-axis 6000kg capacity machine. The RUSSELL 7 is RME’s signature model sold globally and this unit also comes with advanced RME INSIDEOUT™ Technologies. These proprietary new technologies developed by RME 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 quartered and many health and safety hazards have been eliminated.

Chief Customer Officer, Cherylyn Russell, says RME is a proud supplier to the hard rock mining and mineral processing industry, primarily those processing gold and copper.

“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.”

Cherylyn Russell
Chief Customer Officer, RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT

About RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT

RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT (RME) is the world’s leading Mill Relining Systems Technology supplier. We invent machine systems and service-based solutions for problems encountered in the world’s mining and mineral processing industries. Our technologies deliver short shutdowns, high mill availability and safe working environments. Established in 1985, RME has grown to operate in 64 countries, has 12 international Sales and Service Centres and employs more than 450 people worldwide.