Abstract: A method of brightening mechanical pulps by chelating and thickening to reduce the manganese content of the pulp to less than 30 parts per million and copper content less than 1 parts per million by adding ions preferably magnesium ions as magnesium sulphate MgSO.sub.4 in the amount of 400 to 3,000 ppm Mg ions retained by the pulp based on the oven dry weight of the pulp and thereafter applying a bleaching liquor composed of peroxide as hydrogen peroxide and an alkali as sodium hydroxide having a ratio of alkali to peroxide of between 1--1 and 2-1 in an amount to apply between 1 to 8 percent peroxide based on the oven dry weight of the pulp and containing no added sodium silicate. Preferably the bleaching liquor will contain magnesium sulphate in the amount of about 0.001 to 0.1% based on the oven dry weight of the pulp.