A low grade bauxite sample of central India was thoroughly characterized with the help of stereomi-croscope, reflected light microscope and electron microscope using QEMSCAN. A few hand picked samples were collected from different places of the mine and were subjected to geochemical characterization studies. The geo-chemical studies indicated that most of the samples contain high silica and low alumina, except a few which are high grade. Mineralogically the samples consist of bauxite (gibbsite and boehmite), ferruginous mineral phases (goe-thite and hematite), clay and silicate (quartz), and titanium bearing minerals like rutile and ilmenite. Majority of the gibbsite, boehmite and gibbsitic oolites contain clay, quartz and iron and titanium mineral phases within the sample as inclusions. The sample on an average contains 39.1 % Al_2O_3 and 12.3 % SiO_2, and 20.08 % of Fe_2O_3. Beneficiation techniques like size classification, sorting, scrubbing, hydrocyclone and magnetic separation were employed to reduce the silica content suitable for Bayer process. The studies indicated that, 50 % by weight with 41 % Al_2O_3 containing less than 5 % SiO_2 could be achieved. The finer sized sample after physical beneficiation still contains high silica due to complex mineralogical associations.
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