In developing a geometallurgical characterisation for comminution, the geological information, usually captured from drill core with a resolution of down to micrometre scale, is compared with the results of comminution tests. These tests require several kilograms of material and are empirical tests that do not focus on understanding the effect of ore characteristics separately from the machine functioning.

The resultant particles from the comminution process depend upon the operating conditions of the comminution devices (i.e., ball size and load, rotational speed, mill specifications) and the heterogeneity of the rock characteristics (i.e., texture and mineralogy) that influence the mechanical properties of particles which are being reduced in scale from metres to micrometres. A newer approach for comminution modelling and characterisation considers the measurement of the particle strength and minimum required energy to break them at different sizes and its application as a parameter to characterise the breakage behaviour of the ores. However, the relationship between particle strength and minimum energy with the ore characteristics that may link this information to ore' comminution potential has not been explored yet.

This study focuses on selecting variables that have been previously identified as relevant for strength at the core scale (i.e., mineralogy, mineral association, grain size, grain shape and porosity) and quantifying their variation as the particle size decreases from 30 to 3 mm. The results show that for a set of ten different rock types, the median value of ore characteristics such as modal mineralogy, mineral association and grain shape does not change with particle size. However, as the particle size is reduced over that size range, these characteristics do become more variable. This behaviour is similar to the variation observed in the strength values of samples, which shows size independence within the studied particle size range, but it is not clear which characteristic has more relevance to the strength results.

Detailed geological characterisation information is rarely used to predict how the geological variability may affect the plant's operation. The results from this work indicate that mineralogical and textural features might be controlling the strength of particles formed during comminution. By understanding the physics of the fracture process, these characteristics may be identified. So, a novel link between the detailed mineralogical and textural characterisation at different particle scales and the strength of particles could be developed, which would be helpful in the connection of geological data with the newest developments in comminution research.

在开发用于粉碎的地质冶金特征时，通常从分辨率低至微米级的钻芯中捕获的地质信息与粉碎测试的结果进行比较。这些测试需要几公斤的材料，并且是经验性测试，不专注于了解矿石特性的影响，而不是机器功能。

粉碎过程中产生的颗粒取决于粉碎设备的操作条件（即球尺寸和负载、转速、磨机规格）以及影响机械性能的岩石特性的异质性（即质地和矿物学）。颗粒从米减小到微米。一种用于粉碎建模和表征的新方法考虑测量颗粒强度和以不同尺寸破碎它们所需的最小能量，并将其作为表征矿石破碎行为的参数的应用。然而，颗粒强度和最小能量与矿石特征之间的关系可能将该信息与矿石的粉碎潜力联系起来，但尚未进行探索。

本研究的重点是选择先前被确定为与核心尺度强度相关的变量（即矿物学、矿物组合、晶粒尺寸、晶粒形状和孔隙度），并量化它们随着粒度从 30 毫米减小到 3 毫米时的变化。结果表明，对于一组十种不同的岩石类型，矿石特征如模态矿物学、矿物组合和颗粒形状的中值不随粒度变化而变化。然而，随着粒径在该尺寸范围内减小，这些特性确实变得更加多变。这种行为类似于在样品强度值中观察到的变化，在所研究的粒径范围内显示出尺寸独立性，但尚不清楚哪种特征与强度结果更相关。

详细的地质特征信息很少用于预测地质变化可能如何影响工厂的运行。这项工作的结果表明，矿物学和质地特征可能控制着粉碎过程中形成的颗粒的强度。通过了解断裂过程的物理特性，可以识别这些特征。因此，可以在不同颗粒尺度的详细矿物学和纹理表征与颗粒强度之间建立新的联系，这将有助于将地质数据与粉碎研究的最新进展联系起来。