Attrition is applied to sandy material to remove particle surface contamination or undesired cuttings before flotation. Working in stirred mills and applying special process conditions, attrition can be intensified enabling abrasion of particles in the size range between 20mum and 1000mum. Subsequently, the resulting highly contaminated fines fraction <5mum can be separated. The applied process conditions preventing particle breakage are characterized by low particle stress, using small grinding media, low energy input and a high solids content. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.