Coal fines cleaning wastes (CFCW) from two different Spanish coal cleaning plants were agglomerated with waste vegetable oils (WVO) of household origin over a wide range of oil concentration with the aim of recovering high-calorific value/low-ash content coal. The results were evaluated in terms of organic matter recovery (OMR) and ash rejection (AR) from CFCW. In addition to the WVO concentration, the effects of desliming the CFCW and the agglomerates separation method were also studied. In practice, ready to burn coal fines were recovered by this procedure. Moreover, both the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal dumps and the amount of coal wastes to be handled and disposed of can be reduced. Since the feasibility of recovering coal from CFCW by oil agglomeration will depend very much on the cost of oil, the suitability of the WVO to behave as coal agglomerants as well as their low cost are of significance for the commercial viability of the process. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.