A methodology was developed in this study to evaluate the effect of operating parameters on the processability of oil sands using small-scale laboratory experimental devices. By subtracting bitumen recovered to the froth by entrainment with water, the concept of "true flotation recovery" is proposed to describe bitumen recovery resulting from bitumen-bubble attachment. The experimental results indicated that "true flotation recovery" is a more sensitive and meaningful marker than overall bitumen recovery to evaluate the processability of oil sands using small-scale laboratory test units.