In this study, the Alberta oil sands tailings were characterized and the effects of residual bitumen removal techniques on the separation of the heavy minerals from the oil sands tailings were studied. At the pretreatment stage, centrifugal separation can produce a rougher heavy mineral concentrate with acceptable heavy mineral recoveries and a very small proportion of the residual hydrocarbon. The effect of roasting, which was used to remove residual bitumen, on the magnetic properties of the minerals contained in the froth treatment tailings was investigated. Naphtha washing can reduce the residual bitumen content in the oil sands tailings to 0.8%. With the addition of NaOH or Na 2 SiO3 , Attrition at 80°C also can remove residual bitumen as clean as naphtha washing does. Regardless of the bitumen-removal method, gravity concentration of bitumen-removed SB40 heavy product is effective. Flotation removal of pyrite from the bitumen-removed SB40 heavy product is possible. Due to the presence of trace residual bitumen, flotation separation of zircon from titanium minerals was more difficult for mechanically attritioned SB40 heavy product than for roasted SB40 heavy product.