Abstract: Due to the microwave heating has the advantages of fast heating speed, sensitive reaction, uniform heating and high heat efficiency, it gradually develops in the chemical and mining application in recent years. Along with China’s growing demand of iron ores, great attention is paid to its potentially significant role in the mining field. Combined with the current application status of microwave, the research status of microwave roasting in refractory ores, especially in hematite and limonite was introduced in this paper. Meanwhile, its development and application prospect in the refractory iron ores was pointed out. Through mass production and technology promotion to reduce the production cost of the industrial microwave source, the manufacturing cost of the high temperature equipment of microwave will be reduced. Therefore, the traditional high temperature equipment will be replaced by the microwave, which will be the mainstream of the market.