We will focus on the important aspect of mechanochemical processing by grinding in a ball mill, namely, nanoscale wear of the treated minerals and of the milling tools (balls and drum walls). A new technology called abrasive-reactive wear has been developed that utilizes wear debris as an integral component of the reaction system rather than treating it as a harmful impurity. This technology is applied to the processing of mineral raw materials. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.