Four different starches, namely soluble starch, corn starch, potato starch and rice starch with different characteristics have been studied as depressants for hematite in cationic flotation using dodecylamine as the collector. Surface charge measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) have been used to understand the starch-hematite interaction. The lowering of surface charge and change of peaks at 750-1500 cm(-1) region indicate the presence of hydrogen bonding and chemical interaction between hematite and starches. The results of flotation studies with pure minerals of hematite and quartz and a low grade iron ore at different conditions suggest that all the starches are good depressants for hematite. Maximum adsorption for all the four starches with hematite occurs at the pH value 5-9. However soluble starch is found to be the better depressant at slightly alkaline pH. The flotation of natural occurring banded iron ore using different starches has indicated that it is possible to achieve an iron grade of 63-65% Fe with 85-88% recovery. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.