FLS is pioneering technologies at the next frontier in mine waste management.
Across the globe, miners are re-examining what waste really means. Tailings, once written off as liabilities, now hold the potential to deliver new revenue streams, critical minerals, and major environmental gains.
For more than 140 years, FLS has provided the technology, knowledge and services that empower customers to meet complex operational challenges. In recent years, many of those challenges have focused on minimising environmental impacts. FLS’s long-standing and proven legacy of innovation has enabled the company to be at the forefront of driving efficiencies while delivering sustainable outcomes.
With governments tightening regulations on tailings storage and the demand for metals accelerating, the pressure is on to extract more value from less material, while ensuring that mine operators achieve their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
“Every mine has hidden value sitting in its tailings,” FLS business development manager for REFLUX technologies Anson Gilbert said.
“The challenge has always been to recover that value efficiently, safely and at a scale that makes economic sense. That’s exactly where our REFLUX technology family steps in.”
Redefining beneficiation
At the heart of FLS’s solution is the REFLUX Classifier (RC), a compact gravity separator combining a fluidised bed with a system of closely spaced inclined lamella plates. The plates accelerate the settling of dense particles while desliming and classifying fine material. The result is a sharp density-based separation with exceptional throughput.
Developed in partnership with Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin at the University of Newcastle, the REFLUX Classifier family – including GradePro and the REFLUX Flotation Cell (RFC) – combines gravity separation, classification and flotation principles to recover value from fine and low-grade feeds.
Originally designed for coal, the RC now operates successfully in iron ore, base metals, manganese, chromite, mineral sands and spodumene. The technology is applied in more than 200 installations worldwide.
According to FLS, tests in Canada and Brazil have shown 20 per cent higher recovery and Fe grades exceeding 63 per cent in a single stage, replacing complex multi-stage flotation circuits. In coal and iron ore applications, the RC’s lamella design has delivered probable-error (Ep) values below 0.06, said to be more than double the precision of traditional spirals.
Building on this foundation, FLS released the REFLUX Classifier Concentrator (RCC) – now marketed as GradePro, an advanced version tailored for low-grade ores and tailings re-treatment. The GradePro integrates secondary fluidisation water and a smaller mixing chamber, cutting bed-build times by a factor of seven and increasing upgrade ratios more than 30 times for tin and tantalum tailings.
“GradePro takes all the learnings from the RC and adapts them for the world of low-grade feeds and mine waste,” Gilbert said. “It’s robust enough for plant operation, but selective enough to recover fine, high-value minerals that other devices simply miss.”
From tailings to treasure
FLS said recent pilot campaigns underscore the step change. At a tin operation treating 0.15 per cent Sn tailings, the GradePro achieved 447× tin upgrade (67 per cent tin product grade) with over 75 per cent recovery.
In Brazil, it was demonstrated that a simplified SAG–RC circuit can replace traditional flotation, reducing operating expenditure by 42 per cent and capital expenditure by five per cent while maintaining of more than 68 per cent Fe concentrate.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the RC has delivered consistent high-grade iron ore concentrates with outstanding recovery and stability.
“Every one of these projects proves that you don’t need more stages; you just need smarter separation,” Gilbert said. “The REFLUX approach achieves cleaner cuts, smaller footprints and faster payback.”
Recovering value is only half the story. Managing what remains is equally important.
FLS’s AFP2500 automatic filter press complements the REFLUX technologies by producing stackable, low-moisture tailings that can be safely stored or repurposed as backfill. Together, the technologies form a closed-loop system: recover the metals, recycle the water, and drastically reduce tailings dam volumes.
“This integration aligns perfectly with our MissionZero commitment,” Gilbert said.
MissionZero is FLS’s sustainability program that aims to reduce emissions and waste in mining to zero by 2030. In adopting the commitment, FLS has endeavoured to offer its customers the required technological and digital solutions to move towards greener mining processes.
“We’re helping customers move toward dry-stacked, resource-positive operations, where tailings dams become a thing of the past,” Gilbert said.
Of course, the shift to a more sustainable world is further driving demand for minerals like copper, lithium, and other critical minerals.
These critical minerals are foundational to the global green transition because they enable the technologies driving decarbonisation.
Copper is vital for renewable power and electrification. Its superior conductivity makes it indispensable in wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs) and power grids.
Lithium is central to energy storage, forming the core component of lithium-ion batteries that power EVs and balance renewable energy supply through grid-scale storage systems.
Beyond these, minerals such as nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements and graphite are equally important.
These minerals underpin the infrastructure of a low-carbon economy – renewable energy systems, electric mobility and advanced storage technologies.
Growing research points to rare earth and critical mineral recovery from coal and historic tailings.
The GradePro’s ability to separate on subtle density differences makes it suitable for extracting fine rare earth elements bearing phases, further extending its relevance as the energy transition accelerates.
“Critical minerals are the new frontier,” Gilbert said. “The chemistry is complex, but the physics of separation still matters, and that’s where our technology gives miners an edge.”
A circular future for mining
Corporate governance and ESG compliance have become mandatory expectations; however, many companies still grapple with the challenges of how they can reconfigure operations for long-term sustainability.
As mining companies face increasing ESG expectations, technologies that turn waste into resources are reshaping the industry narrative.
By combining scientific innovation with proven field performance, FLS’s REFLUX technologies can offer economic viability, environmental responsibility and operational simplicity in one platform.
“The conversation has shifted,” Gilbert said. “It’s no longer just about compliance or waste management; it’s about value creation, decarbonisation and future-proofing our industry. REFLUX technology allows us to do all three.”
This feature appeared in the November issue of Australian Mining magazine.
