The invention discloses a beneficiation method for refractory iron ores, belonging to the technical field of mineral processing and comprising the following steps: (1) crushing the refractory iron ores and grinding; (2) carrying out low-intensity magnetic separation and high-intensity magnetic separation; (3) filtering concentrates obtained from the high-intensity magnetic separation to obtain filter cakes, heating the filter cakes to remove moisture, preserving the heat of the cakes in a reducing atmosphere, and performing air cooling; (4) adding water to prepare ore pulp, stirring and beneficiating preliminarily; (5) levigating and beneficiating finely, mixing the obtained finely beneficiated concentrates with concentrates obtained from the low-intensity magnetic separation, and filtering to remove the moisture. According to the method disclosed by the invention, through the high-intensity magnetic separation, low-intensity magnetic separation, roasting, reducing, preliminarily beneficiating, grinding and finely beneficiating, products with iron grade greater than 60% can be obtained; meanwhile, product indexes are stable, the economy is good, and resources can be utilized efficiently.