Following a long-standing relationship, a large Indian mining customer has awarded FLSmidth what the OEM says is the largest single order for the world’s largest size vertical steel media tower mills. The mills are to be delivered at what is set to become one of the largest and most efficient iron ore beneficiation plants globally, reinforcing FLSmidth’s global leadership in energy-efficient grinding technology, FLS says.
The order is significant for mining in a number of ways, as IM Editorial Director Paul Moore discussed with Peter Flanagan, FLS SVP & Head of Capital Sales and Key Accounts on the sidelines of the SME MINEXCHANGE event in Denver, Colorado. “This is by far the largest vertical tower mill order in not only FLS history but also in the wider industry both in terms of the number of mills and the fact they will be the largest of their type ever built.”
Peter Flanagan, FLS SVP & Head of Capital Sales and Key Accounts & IM Editorial Director, Paul Moore
FLS supplies two types of vertical mills – these FLS Tower Mill (FTM) models for coarser grinding which utilises a screw and is most applicable for secondary grinding; and downstream for very fine grinding it also has the ceramic media VXPmill, which is a vertical stirred mill used primarily for concentrate regrind but also have applicability in tertiary grinding duty.
Flanagan stated: “The FTM’s big potential, and its use in this case, is to replace ball mills in secondary grinding – not only that but this same customer has bought from FLS for the same haematite iron ore beneficiation plant what will be the two largest HPGRs ever to be supplied, at 3 m diameter x 2 m width, which are being used instead of SAG mills. Up until now a relatively small number of very large vertical tower mills have been sold and installed in the industry, which include the largest to date- an FLS FTM-4500 which is in use with a gold mining customer in the Dominican Republic – but this order with 18 FTM-5000 units is far and away beyond anything achieved to date.”
Flanagan added that FLS is using its global supply chain to get the optimum source of key components for the mills that meet all of it performance and quality requirements.
This future flowsheet step forward is significant as it is the first time conventional tumbling mills will have not been used in a plant of this large scale, completely being replaced in favour of HPGRs and vertical tower mills. A major driver for the customer in this case was saving on power consumption. While vertical tower mills do use balls, they use less of them and they wear more slowly, so they are used more efficiently with more mixing instead of high impact. This iron ore plant will be the second largest ever built after one of the plants in Western Australia’s Pilbara – though of course that is a conventional plant. So the whole mining industry, not just iron ore but also for copper and other metals, will be watching the progress of this project with great interest.
In more detail, the order includes the delivery of 18 vertical tower mills (FTM-5000 models) to be used in both the secondary and tertiary grinding circuits, directly downstream from two of the world’s largest high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs), which the customer ordered from FLSmidth in the December quarter of 2024. Each of these vertical grinding mills will be the largest steel media mills ever deployed in terms of both size and capacity.
In addition to these mills, the order also includes the delivery of 30 KREBS UMD pumps and 18 KREBS gMAX hydrocyclones to complete the secondary and tertiary grinding circuits’ process requirements. The slurry pumps will be the largest known size of slurry pumps in all of India mining, says FLS.
The equipment is expected to be installed and commissioned during 2026 and 2027.
Mikko Keto, CEO at FLSmidth, said: “Winning this strategic order is a proud moment for the FLSmidth Mining team. The combination of the upstream HPGRs and vertical tower mills will provide the customer with significant reductions in energy, water and grinding media consumption throughout the entire flowsheet, supporting optimal profitability. It also clearly underpins the value of leading technology, strong customer relations, and the confidence customers have in our MissionZero flowsheet supported by our global service network.”
The vertical tower mill is one of FLSmidth’s core MissionZero offerings, supplying capabilities that reduce energy consumption in the fine grinding of minerals by 25-50% when compared with traditional horizontal ball mills for the same feed and product size. Additional benefits include robust construction with shell magnetic liners for better availability of these mills; shorter lead time with fast, efficient transportation compared to competitors; plus an optimised design for reduced footprint and easy maintenance. They also offer performance flexibility catering to a wide range of grinding media and global support wherever the mills are deployed.
FLS of course will continue to be a key supplier of SAG and ball mills, because ultimately the choice depends on a number of factors including the ore type. “At FLS we have the full tool chest for communition – by that I mean the right tools for every project, and that is major advantage for us over competitors. In this case in India, the high power costs and the power supply constraints, in addition to the tower mills’ efficiency and their deployment with HPGRs upstream, saw the customer make this particular choice. Plus there were some small but significant differences in our FTM design that helped make us successful as well.”