WORLD PROSPECTS
Mill relining milestone
In a major milestone , Russell Mineral Equipment ( RME ) has designed and completed production of its 500th Mill Relining Machine ( MRM ) for Australia-based gold producer Northern Star Resources Ltd .
This custom-made RUSSELL MRM was accepted by Northern Star at a ceremony at RME ’ s global headquarters in Toowoomba , Queensland , in March . This MRM will service Northern Star ’ s new SAG mill at its Thunderbox project in the Goldfields of Western Australia .
RME and Northern Star began their relationship at the Kanowna Belle Operations some 30 years ago with the purchase of RUSSELL MRM number five ( MRM005 ). Northern Star owns six RUSSELL MRMs , including the 400th RUSSELL MRM , commissioned in 2018 at Kanowna Belle . This machine replaced a RUSSELL MRM that had been
Aremote mine on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is the destination for three recently delivered McLanahan feederbreakers . The client , PT Bukit Asam , is a stateowned energy provider and one of the largest coal mining companies in Indonesia . It needed robust and reliable feeding and crushing equipment to meet the challenges of its rugged and remote location .
McLanahan feeder-breakers are used to accept a non-continuous feed from trucks , dozers or wheel loaders , reduce the maximum lump size of the material to a desired product size and feed this onto a conveyor belt or through a secondary crushing machine at a controlled rate . This hightorque equipment with low rotational speeds results in small shaft sizes and modular , compact equipment .
The design brief for the client in Indonesia was focused on two main areas : the equipment had to fit into shipping containers for delivery and have minimum installation requirements once arriving on site .
The remote site processes raw run of mine coal , which is delivered to the feeder-breakers via a truck dump , with a required throughput of 1,000 t / h each , with a 600 mm in-feed lump size and 200 mm out-feed lump .
With support from its Indonesian agent , PT Suprabakti Mandiri , McLanahan ’ s Technical Services and Engineering departments were able to customise the existing feeder-breaker to fit the client ’ s design brief . The clients preferred manufacturing standards were at the highest level , which suited Australian manufacture , according to the company .
Starting with the client ’ s design brief , McLanahan ’ s engineers had to ensure the in operation at Kanowna Belle for 25 years .
The 500th RUSSELL MRM is a RUSSELL 7-axis , 6,000-kg 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 , the company says .
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 , RME says .
Chief Customer Officer , Cherylyn Russell , says RME is a proud supplier to the hard-rock mining and mineral processing industry , primarily those
McLanahan customisation pays off in Indonesia
equipment could be packed and delivered into 40 ft ( 12.2 m ) open-top shipping containers . Efficiency with size and mass requirements of the equipment was a high priority to ensure the smallest number of shipping containers were used .
To achieve this , the McLanahan engineering department modularised its existing feederbreaker design into three main pieces . For the reclaim feeder-breaker , these were the feed deck , breaker and gooseneck including the drive . For the feeder-breakers , this represented the tail section , feed section and breaker section with drive .
While delivery requirements to site were important , once on site the equipment would need to be assembled under the supervision of PT Suprabakti Mandiri .
This saw McLanahan engineers design the equipment to minimise complexity and the number of components needed for each machine , including parts ; essentially , the equipment was to be a “ plug-and-play ” type of installation .
The result was the design of three customised and modularised McLanahan feeder-breakers : two Dump Hopper Feeder-Breakers FB48-50-46 and one Gooseneck Reclaim Feeder-Breaker RFB48-50-49 .
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 ,” she said . “ 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 . www . rmeglobal . com ; www . nsrltd . com
The two Dump Hopper Feeder-Breakers each have a 10-m-long hopper opening and a horizontal discharge , plus a single drag conveyor and breaker roll . They also feature an integral hopper and hydraulically-operated rear door with its own Hydraulic Power Unit , alongside a breaker roll consisting of replaceable , weld-on carbide tipped picks .
The Reclaim Feeder Breaker is 16.7 m in length with a 5-m-long exposed deck under coal and 18 ° inclined discharge to provide a 2 m lift . It also has a single drag conveyor and breaker roll and carbide impregnated tipped picks on the breaker roll .
The supply contract also included spare parts , which was a critical factor for the client due to the site ’ s remote location and its contract to supply reliable and consistent energy to its customers .
All three machines were manufactured in Australia using local suppliers and contractors , while assembly and factory acceptance testing ( FAT ) was completed McLanahan ’ s Newcastle , New South Wales facility . Upon the successful FAT , each machine was disassembled for shipping and packed into containers for delivery to Jakarta , Indonesia . The feeder-breakers have now been installed , commissioned and are working at design capacity .
Chris Knowles , Director of Sales and Marketing for McLanahan , said : “ It ’ s a real thrill to be able to showcase our technology to one of Asia ’ s most trusted coal mining companies . As an Australian OEM we feel that our experience in developing equipment focused on safety and ease of maintenance was a big factor in our selection . Our aim is to further develop both our remote condition monitoring technology as well as an extensive service team locally in Indonesia .” www . mclanahan . com ; www . ptba . co . id
6 International Mining | APRIL 2022