Magnetite is presently used by many coal washeries in India as a dense medium in dense-medium cyclones for coarse coal cleaning. Considering the high cost of magnetite, efforts were made at R&D, Tata Steel, India to develop alternatives to magnetite. Studies revealed that the magnetic fraction of blast furnace flue dust (MFFD) had requisite properties for use as heavy media. Systematic studies in the laboratory, at pilot-scale and then the plant showed that MFFD can function as a dense medium. A process flow route was developed for the generation of MFFD, which has now been patented by the company. The ball mill-hydrocyclone circuit generally used in coal washeries for grinding magnetite can be used to generate the MFFD with slight modifications. However, close control of the size distribution of the MFFD is required. Also nucleonic gauges, if any in the plant need to be re-calibrated. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.