A study is reported of the agglomeration behaviour of comminuted calcium carbonates having sizes ranging from 4 to 23 mu m. A single low viscosity binder was used and the mixer (a vertical axis high shear mixer) and conditions of mixing were kept constant. Particular emphasis was placed on the measurement of changes of size distribution in the initial stages of agglomeration and on the timescales for compaction and liquid distribution. Granule compaction was determined directly from mercury intrusion data and the impeller torque was used to monitor expression of liquid to give a wet surface. In all cases, a bimodal distribution of granule sizes was formed after addition of the liquid. The bimodality could persist for long mixing times and this was found to correlate with a non-uniform distribution of liquid in which fine granules contained significantly less liquid than coarse granules. From the proposed mechanism of liquid distribution, it is argued that the initial formation of a bimodal distribution is a previously unrecognised, intrinsic feature of all processes in which liquid is mixed into a fine solid. Three different methods were used to add the Liquid and it was found that the method of addition affected both the size distribution and the growth behaviour. The particle size of the solid was found to be a critical parameter. With reduction of the size of the solid, the liquid to solid ratio was increased, bimodality of the size distributions became more pronounced and the rate of compaction of granules became slower.