The aim of this work was the construction and commissioning of a laboratory high gradient magnetic separator (HGMS) test rig. An already available laboratory magnet of sufficient working volume and background field was checked for its applicability and arranged with a suspension circuit. The core of the circuit forms the canister for matrix types, which was designed and constructed within the thesis. In order to describe the functionality of the discontinuous laboratory HGMS, experimental tests with discrete mixtures of hematite and limestone as well as continuous susceptibility spectrum made up of spateisenstein and the accompanying minerals within the ore of the Steirische Erzberg were conducted with a variety of matrix elements. Experiments with the hematite/limestone mixture and particle size <25 microns, using a ball matrix with a filling factor of 40 %, provided a hematite recovery in the magnetics of 96 % at a background field 0,579 T, a solids volume concentration of 0,67 vol. % and a void velocity of 9,8 cm/s on average. In the experiments with ore from Erzberg, it was possible to obtain a spateisenstein recovery of 31,06 % at a grade of spateisenstein of 98,69 % at a magnetic flux density of 0,199 T.