Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing a hard metal batch by drying a wet slurry -3- which is produced by wet-milling the hard material and binder metal fractions desired in the finished batch to the desired grain size, using water as liquid phase. According to the invention, the wet slurry -3- is applied to a moving carrier belt -1- with a solids content of from 75% by weight to 95% by weight and in a layer thickness of from 0.2 mm to 2 mm. As it passes through a drying zone -4-, the wet slurry -3- is heated, over the course of in total from 1 minute to 7 minutes, to a maximum temperature in the range from more than 100° C. to 150° C. The time which it takes for the wet slurry -3- to be heated to more than 100° C. is in a range from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. The hard metal batch which has been dried in this manner is then cooled to room temperature and if necessary comminuted.