Replacing mill liners, which can weigh more than 3.5 tonnes, is costly and time consuming, but a necessary expense for mining operations that use grinding mills. SAGwise, FLSmidth’s newest launch, tackles this problem by using process control technology to increase the efficiency and prolong the life of semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills. The system, which the company says will pay for itself in six months, monitors and registers high-speed and critical impacts to the liner from the steel balls used in grinding, then makes automated adjustments to reduce up to 45 per cent of those critical collisions. This can save mines hundreds of thousands of dollars, as the typical replacement process creates downtime that can be valued at up to US$130,000 per hour, according to Jack Meegan, FLSmidth’s global product manager. In addition to reducing damages, the monitoring system also lowers the mill’s overall energy consumption by up to six per cent and improves employee safety at the mine site by decreasing the amount of worker intervention required to keep the mill running.