Abstract: In response to issues such as high grinding energy consumption，high media consump⁃ tion，and severe overgrinding caused by the use of steel forgings in the regrinding stage of a copper-sulfur mixed concentrate at a concentrator，a feasibility study was conducted on replacing steel forgings with ce⁃ ramic balls. By systematically analyzing the chemical composition，liberation characteristics，and particle size distribution of the cyclone underflow from the copper-sulfur mixed concentrate，the grinding perfor⁃ mance of ceramic balls and steel forgings under different filling rates，ratios，and grinding times was com⁃ pared，along with flotation contrast tests. The results showed that under the conditions of ceramic balls ra⁃ tio of m(ϕ30 mm)∶m(ϕ20 mm)∶m(ϕ15 mm) = 30%∶40%∶30%，average ball diameter of ϕ22 mm，and filling rate of 40%，the grinding efficiency of ceramic balls was superior to that of steel forgings. When the same grinding fineness (- 75 μm accounting for 72%) was achieved，the grinding time was reduced by 15.38%，the total media weight decreased by 39.49%，and energy consumption was only 51.20% of that of steel forgings，with overgrinding reduced by 0.89%. In flotation tests，the copper recovery in the copper concentrate from the ceramic ball grinding product increased by 21.48 percentage points compared to steel forging grinding，while the sulfur grade and recovery in the sulfur concentrate improved by 2.28 and 11.82 percentage points，respectively. Additionally，the amount of middlings decreased significantly，which is beneficial for improving separation efficiency and process stability in industrial production. The study dem⁃ onstrates that replacing steel forgings with ceramic balls offers significant technical and economic advantag⁃es，and the findings can provide a reference for industrial applications.

Key words: ceramic balls, steel forgings, grinding, cost reduction and efficiency improvement, flotation