This work presents the methodology used to study the consolidation and desiccation of bauxite wastes from mining and industrial processing. The aim is to understand the geotechnical behavior of these wastes launched as slurries in reservoirs and then, let do dry under solar exposure. Five types of residues are here considered. The first is an inert waste resulting from washing of bauxite in mining operations run in the North of Brazil. The other four are wastes resulting from the physicochemical treatment of the bauxite in alumina production industrial plants. Such treatment follows the worldwide known Bayer process. Three of these four wastes, which are usually named as red muds, are disposed with pH around 14. The other one is disposed after neutralization with sulfuric acid, under a pH around 8. Data of solar exposure effects on the muds behavior was obtained in order to determine parameters to be incorporated into consolidation models. Therefore, an improvement on predictions of the life cycle of the wastes reservoirs can be achieved. To study the transition between the saturated phase to the unsaturated one and to determine the geotechnical and geomechanics characteristics of the wastes, an extensive laboratory testing program was performed. This included CRD tests, monitored physical model tests and the determination of water retention curves for the wastes from fully wetted to dry conditions. Laboratory results are compared with those of field monitoring programmes and some empirical models are proposed.