We characterized the highly refined boron precursor powders which were attrition milled for different milling times. $MgB_2$ powder precursor was formed from elemental crystalline Mg and amorphous B powder. The microstructure was investigated by SEM. SEM results indicate that the size of the milled powders was reduced with increasing milling time, which were varied from 0 to 8 hours. We also studied thermal behavior of the starting precursor by DSC as a function of milling time. The thermal behavior of the powder precursors was influenced by milling time. In order to determine the thermal events at DSC peaks, we annealed the milled powder mixture at $600^{circ}C$ and $650^{circ}C$ under protective gas and then analyzed the formation of $MgB_2$ by the XRD. We observed that superconducting $MgB_2$ phase was formed at lower temperature by the longer high energy milling. These results show that the high energy milling of the boron precursor powder can improve the reactivity for the formation of $MgB_2$.