The properties, settling behavior and the rheology of fine particulate slurries were investigated. The test slurries used in these studies included laterite, gypsum, titanium dioxide and silica flour. All were industrial slurries. The property characterization experiments included measurements of the particle size distributions, particle surface areas, pore size distributions and particle densities. Slurries containing different concentrations of the test solids were made up, and their pH and zeta potentials were measured. The rates of settling of the slurries as a function of concentration were determined. The rheological data included directly measured yield stresses using the vane apparatus, and the shear stress-shear rate dependence over ranges of shear rate from less than 1 to more than 10(4) s(-1) using both rotational and capillary rheometers. The settling rate data were analyzed using hindered settling correlations, The yield stress-concentration data were correlated using relationships based on interparticle spacing and the maximum packing volume fraction of solids. Both two-parameter as well as three-parameter empirical rheological models were used to fit the shear stress-shear rate data. The three-parameter Sisko model, which combines low-and intermediate-shear power-law with high-shear Newtonian limiting behavior, was found to provide the best overall description of the flow curves for all slurries, at all solids loadings, over the entire measured range of shear rates. This finding is significant because this model evidently works for most non-Newtonian solid-liquid suspensions, and also because it is applicable over precisely the range of shear rates relevant to pipeline transport of the suspensions.