Breakage and selection matrices have been determined for three types of feed materials of the blast furnace (BF): coal, coke and iron ore sinter. These matrices have been used to calculate the evolution of the feed material particle size distribution (PSD) during their grinding, sieving and conveying. Thus, the Epstein theory allows, on one hand, to replace the usual tests of their mechanical strength characterisation and, on the other hand, to predict the PSD in their feeding at the BF.