The present paper reports the flocculation of iron ore slimes from Joda min
es of TISCO and Kiriburu mines of SAIL situated in the west Singhbhum distr
ict of Bihar, India. These two slimes had marginal difference in density. T
he presence of clay minerals was more in case of Joda slimes. The settling
rate following flocculation was measured as function of time. The effect of
pulp density and flocculant dose at neutral pH was studied in the tests. T
he sedimentation rate increases with increasing flocculant dose up to a cer
tain limiting value after which the improvement is marginal. The pulp densi
ty and flocculant dose have considerable effect on the settling rate. Joda
slimes has poorer settling characteristics in comparison with Kiriburu slim
es. The effect of pulp density and minerals present in these slimes are app
arent from these observations.