In the recent past a paradigm shift in terms of resource utilization and beneficiation practices is experienced by the Indian mining and mineral sector. Depleting iron ore reserves coupled with increasing demand for high grade fines to improve blast furnace performance in terms of productivity and reduced slag rate necessitate intensive beneficiation of iron ore. Iron ores of different regions exhibit unique beneficiation and metallurgical characteristics. Sometime even different iron ore geotypes within a single leasehold are quite different in terms of mineralogy and textural attributes which make them respond to specific beneficiation technique. The Iron Ore Group in Singhbhum-Keonjhar region are hosted by a laterally extensive thick banded iron formation (BIF) in a folded greenstone belt succession of Paleoarchean age. The massive hard, flaky-friable, blue dust and lateritic varieties of iron ores associated with banded hematite jasper (BHJ) and shale have been traditionally mined. However, such high-grade reserves are fast depleting therefore it has now become imperative to perform detailed characterisation, beneficiation and metallurgical studies of the low-grade ore present in the region. The paper presents the characterization of low-grade iron ores from the region through volumetric chemical analysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and SEM–EDS based automated mineralogy. Automated mineralogy based on SEM–EDS liberation analyser named “Maps Min-3.28” is used to find out the Modal, elemental deportment, grain size, mineral association and liberation characteristics. The effects of elemental variation in different phases and textures are also discussed in relation to the beneficiability of low-grade ores.