Most previous studies on iron ore-coal pellets (ICPs) have focused on their reduction, but studies on their sticking behavior have not been reported. The sticking behavior of iron ore-coal pellets (ICPs) at high temperatures under a load of 0.1 MPa was studied. Temperature was determined to be an important factor that affects the sticking behavior: the sticking increased with increasing temperature; the sticking index was 89.28% at 1373 K but only 4.78% at 1223 K. The sticking mechanism results from the intergrowth of metallic iron and ferrous oxide crystals between pellet boundaries. High-melting-point materials formed by the combination of MgO and FexOy, can effectively prevent this intergrowth of iron, and the addition of a dolomite powder coating reduces the sticking index from about 90% to about 10%. The addition of limestone and iron ore powder was not found to have any beneficial effect of sticking inhibition. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.