A system and method for dry ablation beneficiation of ore. The system comprises a nozzle to emit an air stream, and a feeder to provide ore particles for entraining in the air stream and colliding. The ore comprises gangue grains bound together with a cementing material. The cementing material comprises a desired material. The collisions are controlled to help preferentially break the cementing material over breaking the bonds holding a gangue grain together. The system also comprises a classifier to separate broken cementing material from the remaining material (which includes gangue grains) based on size. The method comprises entraining the ore particles in an air stream and colliding to preferentially break the cementing material. The ore particles may be collided with each other or a surface. The broken cementing materials are then separated from the remaining materials (which includes gangue grains). The enriched ore is the separated cementing material.