RME has a vision for a new grinding plant operational paradigm made possible by RME's fast, safe Mill Relining System._x000D_
Some new liner designs can degrade SAG mill performance because of mill volume loss, ball strike (rotational speed limitations) and other issues often brought about by modifying liner design for maximum life and without a backward glance at metallurgical consequences. Freshly relined mills can initially produce as little as 80 per cent of their maximum throughput, that maximum occurring toward the end of the liners' wear life._x000D_
RME's proposition is to see new liners designed for maximum commercial performance. This may mean more frequent mill relines but with liners designed to yield optimum grinding, metallurgical and profitability performance, not maximum life._x000D_
In other words, mill liner profiles and mill relining speed become key operational controls and not simply must do' maintenance functions. Taken to the extreme, liner profiles may prove capable of tuning' a grinding plant for maximum profitability in any metal price environment._x000D_
Following the introduction, the first section of this paper provides an update describing recent and significant developments within RME's range of Mill Relining Systems, the enabling technologies which permit more frequent liner exchange without incurring additional downtime imposts._x000D_
The second section outlines RME's vision of a liner profile versus profitability' commercial model, developed either intuitively or by using a combination of new measurement and modelling technologies. These new measurement and modelling tools provide the opportunity to predict the optimum commercial outcome, off-line in the virtual world, before committing to an expensive liner experiment.