Red mud is a solid waste produced in the process of alumina extraction from bauxite. In this paper, recovery iron from Bayer red mud was studied with direct reduction roasting process followed by magnetic separation, and then building materials were prepared from alumosilicate residues. After analysis of chemical composition and crystalline phase, the effects of different parameters on recovery efficiency of iron were carried out. The optimum reaction parameters were proposed as the following: ratio of carbon powder: red mud at 18:100, ratio of additives: red mud at 6:100, roasting at 1300 degrees C for 110min. With these optimum parameters, total content of iron in concentrated materials was 88.77%, metallization ratio of 97.69% and recovery ratio of 81.40%. Then brick specimens were prepared with alumosilicate residues and hydrated lime. Mean compressive strength of specimens was 24.10 MPa. It was indicated that main mineral phase transformed from nepheline (NaAlSiO4) in alumosilicate residues to gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7) in brick specimens through X-ray diffraction (XRD) technology. The feasibility of this transformation under the experimental conditions was proved by thermodynamics calculation analysis. Combined the recovery of iron with the reuse of alumosilicate residues, it can realize zero-discharge of red mud from Bayer process. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.