Liner profiles influence load behaviors in tumbling mills. Generally, as liners are wearing, tumbling mills performance slightly increases then decreases till they are replaced preferably when the cost associated to the drop of performance is higher than the cost of relining or when liners reach a critical thickness susceptible to breakage. In this paper, we use the DEM to model the load behaviour of an industrial dry tumbling mill used for the grinding of coal at Eskom Kendal power station in South Africa. We study the influence of the liner wear and liner modification on the load behaviour in terms of position of shoulder and toe, power draw, and impact energy spectra. The results found improve our understanding on the grinding process in that particular mill as a function of liner wear and liner modifications. The results increase also our confidence in using the DEM as a tool to design tumbling mills since predicted results are in agreement with observation at the plant. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.