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Ball mills

Increase efficiency and reliability with cost effective ball mill solutions

FLS Ball mills deliver high throughput ore grinding with impressive energy efficiency, helping you maximise mineral recovery and reduce TCO. Even better, our advanced process control system, digital tools and specially engineered mill liners enable greater uptime and increased productivity.

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Key benefits of ball mills

  • Proven technology support by lifecycle services

    We have been designing and manufacturing ball mills under the Fuller-Traylor brand since the early 1980s. Throughout that time, we’ve also been supporting our customers with lifecycle services. From installation and commissioning to process optimisation and regular maintenance, our services have evolved to include smart mill liner packages, load optimisation and advanced process control.

  • Flexible size range adapts to any processing needs

    Our ball mills can operate in open or closed circuits with cyclones for finer product sizing. Ranging from 1.6 m to 8.5 m in diameter with up to 22,000 kW power, they are suited for a variety of applications. Drive options include high-speed motors with reducers, low-speed motors coupled to pinions, and Gearless Mill Drives (GMDs). Discharge arrangements can be customized to fit process or layout needs, with options such as a plain extended chute, trunnion magnet, or trommel screen.

  • Digital tools enhance performance

    For the best possible results, we recommend our LoadIQ smart sensor technology in combination with our ECS/ProcessExpert Advanced Process Control system. These solutions will provide your business with greater flexibility as together they will automate the response to mill conditions, freeing up your operators for other roles. ECS/ProcessExpert adjusts mill conditions to improve ore reduction and energy efficiency to help lift your productivity.

Our ball mills

Our ball mills are suitable for all different type of ores. They can be used for softer ore like limestone to hard rock like copper and gold ore. Ball mills can be utilized as a primary grinding stage (after pre-crushing) or as a secondary grinding operation following a SAG mill.  Additionally ball mills are also implemented for regrind applications.

In addition to the above description, which is mainly for wet grinding, ball mills are also used in dry grinding applications.  The ball mill can becombined with drying chambers and hot gas generators to dry the material to the required water content for the downstream processing.

Compare ball mills

Ball mills can be configured to suit the project demands with design features as follows:

  • Support Method: Trunnion-supported or shell-supported
  • Drive Train: High speed with reducer, low speed direct coupled, or gearless (wrap-around motor). Geared solutions can be single or dual pinion with references up to 10,000 kW per pinion.
  • Main Bearings: Hydrostatic or hydrodynamic. Sleeve or multi-pad (self aligning).

Add-ons of ball mills

  • Mill wear parts – Increase service life and efficiency with advanced mill liners and wear parts.
  • LoadIQ – Optimise mill loading with our specially devised sensor.
  • Advanced Process Control – Improve grinding efficiency with our advanced process control system.

Maintenance & Service of Ball mills

As a lifecycle partner, we don’t just sell you a mill and wish you luck. We’re in it for the long haul. Our comprehensive suite of services runs from installation and commissioning to process optimisation, regular maintenance and shutdown support. For ball mills, we have also developed tailored mill liner services that not only increase uptime but actively improve grinding performance. Our advanced liner profiling and scanning services use cutting-edge technology to give you the most accurate and actionable information about the condition of your mill liners. We also let you know the steps that can be taken to optimise liner wear life – empowering you to extend the life of your equipment and better plan maintenance shutdowns. Using a combination of experience and expertise, plus advanced 3D scanning, liner profiling, and wear prediction technologies, we make wear measurement simpler and faster – while keeping it comprehensive – to provide you with the most appropriate solutions to reduce the total cost of ownership of your mill.

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Frequently asked questions

FAQs for ball mills

A ball mill is used for grinding materials into fine powders. In mining, ball mills grind ores to reduce them to smaller particle sizes suitable for further processing, such as mineral concentration.

Inside a ball mill, rotating cylindrical drums are filled with grinding media (usually steel or ceramic balls). As the drum rotates, the grinding media collide with the material being processed. The impact, friction, and compression forces break down the material into finer particles. The continuous motion ensures uniform grinding. The material is progressively reduced in size as it circulates through the mill.

The P80 of a ball mill (dependent upon where it is located in the minerals processing flowsheet) typically produces a product with P80 between 30 – 212 microns.  However alternate applications can be analyzed on a case by case basis.

The energy efficiency of a ball mill will depend on the mill type, application and operation. Tools such as Advanced Process Control can increase the energy efficiency of your ball mill.