<p>High-sulfur-iron bauxite, which is a typically difficult mineral to handle due to its high contents of diaspore, sulfur and iron, has not been used by alumina producers. An advanced roasting technique for desulfurization and recovery of iron from low-grade high-sulfur-iron bauxite, based on fluidized suspension oxidation and magnetization roasting in air and CO, respectively, followed by magnetic separation was developed in this study. The effects of suspension roasting temperature, roasting time and CO concentration were investigated. After suspension oxidation roasting at 600&#xa0;°C for 2&#xa0;min, the sulfur content was reduced from 1.82% to 0.38%, diaspore and goethite dehydration to form Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃, respectively. At 600&#xa0;°C with CO concentration of 20%, suspension magnetization roasting for 10&#xa0;min, then the magnetization roasting ore was subjected to magnetic separation, while the alumina concentrate recovery of 85.56% and iron concentrate recovery of 82.87% with iron grade of 41.36% was obtained. The digestion ratio of alumina concentrate is significantly higher than that of raw ore, while reducing the production of red mud. Alumina concentrate can be used as a raw material for the Bayer process in the aluminum production industry, while the iron concentrate can be used as a supplementary to the raw material for iron ore resources.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>