AUSTRALIAN METS
environment. It is whether whole-stream visibility can deliver earlier decisions, more consistent plant feed, less unnecessary processing and clear evidence of improved performance.”
Collaborating on mill relining improvements
Bradken and Russell Mineral Equipment( RME) recently partnered up in the plant space to help eliminate fatal risks in mill relining operations.
The companies have paired the RME INSIDEOUT™ Technology and Bradken ® MillSafe ® Solutions to tackle this challenge head on, with one of the early success stories coming at a high-throughput coppergold operation in Indonesia.
At this operation, filmed hazard analysis revealed fatal-risk potential during worn liner removal. Crews entered the mill to sling out fallen liners, in the process facing hazards from confined spaces, uneven footing, suspended loads and mobile equipment. Guided by a“ safety first, production will follow” philosophy, the site set a clear goal: eliminate fatal risks and enable automated relining.
RME partnered with the mine site and reline crews, and worked together with Bradken, to engineer a safer, semiautomated solution for executing worn liner exchange from outside the mill. RME supplied the RUSSELL 7-R AutoMotion™ Mill Relining Machine( MRM) with specially engineered INSIDEOUT™ Tooling – ShellXtract, FeedXtract, GrateXtract and PulpXchange – enabling worn liner removal without crew entry. Bradken provided customised feed, shell, grate and pulp lifters designed for direct wall extraction by the mill relining system.
The technologies were commissioned progressively during scheduled shutdowns with no added downtime, the companies claimed, supported by site training and change management. The result: no crew inside the mill during liner removal, an 85 % reduction in risk exposure and a 16 % improvement in removal speed.
Bradken has since gone on to commercialise the offering in the form of the MillSafe Worn Liner Removal System, developed in collaboration with RME.
The system sees Bradken Feed End and Shell liners removed using the RUSSELL Forks Tool, which interfaces with the worn liner profiles matched to vision wear reporting data and a customised bolting system, while Bradken Grates are removed using the RUSSELL Grate Tool, to align within the grate slot and worn liner profiles. Bradken Pulp Lifters are removed using the hydraulic RUSSELL Pulp Lifter Gripper Tool, which attaches to the pulp lifter vane and is customised to suit either straight, radial
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Tools are supplied on a tool tray carousel that enters the mill via the MRM liner cart, minimising changeover time. Both the tools and tray are supplied by RME, Bradken explained.
Tackling refractory gold complexity
Rox Resources hasn’ t had to look outside of Australia for a leaching process that can unlock value from the refractory ore sources it has at its Youanmi gold project in Western Australia, with the company recently installing Albion Process oxidative leaching technology from Glencore Technology at the mine.
Designed to economically treat refractory and semi-refractory ores, the Albion Process combines Glencore Technology’ s IsaMill™ ultra-fine grinding technology with atmospheric oxidative leaching to economically liberate valuable metals from refractory sulphide ores. By avoiding highpressure processing, it provides a simpler, lower-capital approach to treating complex deposits, the company claims.
Rox Resources’ Youanmi gold project contains both free-milling and sulphidehosted gold mineralisation, with a significant refractory component that cannot be efficiently recovered using conventional processing alone.
“ We have a few metallurgical complexities that mean we can’ t do a standard crush, grind and leach process,” Rox Resources General Manager – Studies, Daniel Marchesi, said.
Following extensive metallurgical test work and the assessment of multiple processing routes, Rox Resources selected the Albion Process and IsaMill combination as the preferred solution. The technology provided a lower-capital, more practical alternative to pressure oxidation while delivering the metallurgical performance required for the project, according to the company.
“ Once we went through that process, doing all the metallurgical work and risk analysis, the Albion Process came up as the best option,” Marchesi said.
Glencore Technology Manager – IsaMill and OxiLeach, Paul Bullock, said the simplicity of the Albion Process allows operators to optimise oxidation to suit the orebody, minimising operating costs while maintaining high recoveries.
He said:“ We do the fine grinding in the IsaMill and then put it through an oxidative leach process; it works together in tandem.
“ The key thing is the simplicity of the Albion Process allows us to dial in, to be able to partially oxidise as much as we need and, therefore, trying to keep down the operating cost to a minimum level and providing benefit in recovery.”
This flexibility was a defining factor in Rox Resources’ technology selection, enabling the operation to efficiently manage variations in the Youanmi orebody while maximising gold recovery, according to Glencore Technology.
Bullock believes projects such as Youanmi demonstrate how modern processing technologies can unlock previously uneconomic resources while accelerating project development.“ There’ s a large opportunity in that refractory space, and projects like this help open up those market opportunities,” he said.
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IMARC2026-IM-Mining-90x124. indd 1 22 / 9 / 2026 10:22:22 am
International Mining | OCTOBER 2026