ABSTRACT A novel jaw crusher was designed, constructed and tested at a lab scale. Differences from a conventional jaw crusher include a swing plate that is supported at the outlet, rather than the inlet, wear plates with a corrugation pattern that are designed to break the ore in bending rather than compression, and a trapezoidal wear plate shape to allow for swelling of broken ore. The crusher was tested using an ore sample that was mainly composed of feldspar. The performance of the crusher was evaluated by measuring changes in the size distribution of the ore and the corresponding electrical energy consumed, as a function of ore feed rate. The results indicated that the crusher product size distribution was narrower than that of the feed and independent of ore feed rate, with relatively little generation of fines, demonstrating that the crusher performed as designed in terms of ore breakage mechanism. Though calculated breakage efficiencies suggest that the crusher may be more energy efficient than a conventional jaw crusher, the use of an undersized crusher motor and possible deficiencies in the design of the transmission mechanism, prevent any concrete conclusions from being drawn.