Substantial environmental advantages can be achieved by transporting overburden in a clay slurry if the rate of ablation of the overburden particles is not excessive. An experimental investigation of this form of hydrotransport has been undertaken and changes in pipeline pressure drop have been used to infer the rate of overburden particle ablation. The experiments suggest that the fine particles disperse quickly and the larger ones remain for longer periods of time. A reasonable model of the experimental results is obtained by assuming the particle diameter decreases at a rate which is independent of particle size.