Transient solutions to the population balance model of ball wear are given for various wear kinetics. At steady state, a single equation suffices to describe the ball size distribution and the ball consumption for any wear rate. The effect of wear rate law, design factors and operating conditions on the size distribution of balls and steel consumption were studied via simulation techniques and a method is given to combine data from marked ball tests and screening of the mill charge in order to determine unambiguously wear kinetics in industrial mills.