Abstract: In this study, the effects of steel balls and steel cylpebs as the grinding media on the crushing behavior and energy utilization of multi−grain ores were investigated using grinding dynamics and discrete element method (DEM) simulation, and industrial experimental research was carried out based on the results. The results of grinding kinetics show that the effect of steel balls on the crushing rate of the coarse grain fraction was better than that of steel cylpebs. The content of +0.15 mm in the grinding product is reduced by 0.98% and −0.074 mm increased by 5.66% in the case of steel ball compared with that of steel cylpebs as the grinding medium. DEM analysis showed that the motion state of steel balls was more active than that of steel cylpebs. The percentage of energy used for ore crushing using steel balls and steel cylpebs as the grinding medium was 65.41% and 61.29%, respectively, with the former being 4.12% higher than the latter so that the effective energy utilization of steel balls for crushing the ore is higher. Based on the above results, after using steel balls as grinding media in the Dahongshan Iron Mine, the overflow −0.074 mm content of the cyclone increased from 74.00% to 81.71%, an increase of 7.71%, the unit steel consumption decreased by 9.52%, from 0.63 kg/t to 0.57 kg/t, and the unit power consumption decreased by 11.61%, from 11.46 kW·h/t to 10.13 kW·h/t. This study verified the validity of the steel ball scheme from grinding dynamics and discrete element analysis experiments and verified its accuracy through industrial tests.