The environmentally acceptable disposal offine-particled mining and industrial wastes by the formation of hydraulic-fill slimes dams is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the total mining endeavour. Relatively little is known of the behaviour of waste slurries during deposition. This paper describes and analyses the following aspects of slurry behaviour:

(i) the relationship between viscosity, shear strength, and water content,

(ii) the slope assumed by a thickened slurry,

(iii) particle-size sorting on a hydraulic-fill beach,

(iv) gradients of hydraulic-fill beaches, and

(v) internal erosion during the deposition of slurry.