Thickening of copper-nickel slurry at Talnakh Concentrator was analyzed. The thickening circuit of hydrocyclone discharges before copper flotation is identified and the necessity of its automation is substantiated. A multi-criteria problem statement was formulated and the priorities of individual functionalities were determined. Controllable variables of this automation object, perturbing and controlling influences are distinguished. The two-level system of automatic control of copper-nickel pulp thickening process, its structural scheme, and a variant of mathematical model of the upper level are proposed.