A process for drying fine tailings, comprising: providing an in-line flow of the fine tailings wherein the fine tailings comprise between 15 wt% and 45 wt% solids and comprise at least 50 wt% of fines having a particle size less than 44 microns based on the total solids content; continuously introducing a flocculant solution comprising a flocculation reagent into the in-line flow of the fine tailings, to cause dispersion of the flocculant solution and commence flocculation of the fine tailings, wherein continuously introducing the flocculant solution into the in-line flow of fine tailings comprises rapid mixing, wherein the rapid mixing is characterized in that the second moment M is less than 2 at a downstream location five pipe diameters from introducing the flocculant solution; subjecting the fine tailings to flocculation conditioning in-line to cause formation and rearrangement of flocs and increasing the yield shear stress to form an in-line flow comprising flocculated fine tailings, wherein the flocculation conditioning is performed so as to increase the yield shear strength of the fine tailings to an upper limit; subjecting the flocculated fine tailings to water release conditioning to stimulate release of water while avoiding over-shearing of the flocs, wherein the water release conditioning decreases the yield shear strength of the fine tailings below the upper limit; and depositing the fine tailings to allow the release of water, formation of a non-flowing fine tailings deposit and drying of the non-flowing fine tailings deposit; wherein the flocculation conditioning and the water release conditioning comprise performing pipe wall shearing prior to depositing the fine tailings. providing an in-line flow of the fine tailings wherein the fine tailings comprise between 15 wt% and 45 wt% solids and comprise at least 50 wt% of fines having a particle size less than 44 microns based on the total solids content; continuously introducing a flocculant solution comprising a flocculation reagent into the in-line flow of the fine tailings, to cause dispersion of the flocculant solution and commence flocculation of the fine tailings, wherein continuously introducing the flocculant solution into the in-line flow of fine tailings comprises rapid mixing, wherein the rapid mixing is characterized in that the second moment M is less than 2 at a downstream location five pipe diameters from introducing the flocculant solution; subjecting the fine tailings to flocculation conditioning in-line to cause formation and rearrangement of flocs and increasing the yield shear stress to form an in-line flow comprising flocculated fine tailings, wherein the flocculation conditioning is performed so as to increase the yield shear strength of the fine tailings to an upper limit; subjecting the flocculated fine tailings to water release conditioning to stimulate release of water while avoiding over-shearing of the flocs, wherein the water release conditioning decreases the yield shear strength of the fine tailings below the upper limit; and depositing the fine tailings to allow the release of water, formation of a non-flowing fine tailings deposit and drying of the non-flowing fine tailings deposit; wherein the flocculation conditioning and the water release conditioning comprise performing pipe wall shearing prior to depositing the fine tailings.