Tackling the industry’s most pressing challenges through innovation

A history of innovation

In 1882, as Thomas Edison prepared to bring electricity to New York homes, Frederik Læssøe Smidth launched a new engineering company in Copenhagen, Denmark. These distant and unrelated events nonetheless share a common theme: innovation's power to improve the world. Much has changed since the late 19th Century, but our belief in the power of innovation is not among them. We continue to push the boundaries of what is possible to help our customers become more productive, profitable, and environmentally sustainable.

This mission comes at a time of challenge and change for the mining and mineral processing industry. Economic and demographic growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, and the green transition are expected to increase demand for metals and minerals significantly. At the same time, declining ore grades, climate change, and water scarcity challenge the industry’s ability to meet growing demand sustainably using current technologies and processes, highlighting the need for full-flowsheet innovation. We are addressing this need via the MissionZero Mine.

New technologies

Technical innovation is the basis for our MissionZero vision. From alternative dry grinding technologies to novel mineral recovery techniques and tailings management solutions, we continue in the spirit of Frederik Læssøe Smidth, the original FLS, to pioneer technology that delivers tangible economic and environmental benefits to our customers.

Our position as a technology innovator and supplier is supported by our pilot testing and research capabilities, combined with our process engineering experience and expertise. The FLS Mineral Testing and Research Centre (MTRC) provides extensive mineral testing services that underpin appropriate equipment selection and robust process design, ensuring the process fits the ore. This deep practical experience in real-world mineral processing operations provides the background and impetus behind all our innovation work, inherently linking our innovation to real-world needs and challenges.

The MTRC also supports pilot testing of new technologies. Pilot equipment is skid mounted for easy shipment and set-up at the mine site, where it can be set up for side-by-side comparison with conventional processes. This allows mineral processing plants to see how these latest developments can optimise recovery rates while reducing key inputs, such as power consumption, energy costs, plant footprint, and water consumption.