The invention relates to the technical field of ore dressing, and provides a non-ferrous metal ore pre-dressing and waste discarding method. The non-ferrous metal ore pre-dressing and waste discarding method comprises the following steps: first coarse ore, first fine ore and first qualified ore are obtained through crushing and first screening and grading, the first coarse ore is subjected to pre-dressing and waste discarding through intelligent ore dressing, gangue tailings in the first coarse ore are removed, the remaining first coarse concentrate is crushed and then subjected to second screening and grading, and second fine ore and second qualified ore are obtained; and finally, the first fine ore and the second fine ore are subjected to pre-dressing and waste discarding through dense medium ore dressing, gangue tailings in the first fine ore and the second fine ore are further removed, and concentrate obtained through dense medium ore dressing is qualified ore. In addition, according to the invention, intelligent ore dressing or dense medium dressing can be independently used for pre-dressing and waste discarding, and the process steps are simpler. The method is high in automation degree, high in ore dressing accuracy, high in recovery rate for nonferrous metal ore, high in waste discarding rate, free of limitation on ore types, and wide in application range.