Process for recovery of bitumen from a bituminous froth

In the process for recovery of bitumen from bituminous froth obtained from tar sands using the hot water separation method wherein comminuted tar sand containing bitumen is slurried with hot water, subjected to gravity separation to isolate the bitumen in the form of a bituminous froth, made up principally of a mixture of bitumen and water containing a minor amount of mineral matter, and the bituminous froth is diluted with a liquid hydrocarbon solvent and subjected to two-stage centrifugation to recover the bitumen and hydrocarbon solvent substantially free of water and mineral matter;

• the improvement which comprises;
• staging the liquid hydrocarbon solvent dilution of the bituminous froth such that no more than about 90% of the total hydrocarbon solvent is added to the bituminous froth prior to the first centrifuging stage and the remaining hydrocarbon solvent is added prior to the second centrifuging stage.