The stability of underground openings is pivotal to sustainable safe mining in underground coal mines. To determine the stability and tunneling safety issues in 800-m-deep underground openings through large fault zones in argillaceous rocks in the Guqiao Coal Mine in East China, the pilot industrial test, laboratory experimentation, and field measurements were used to analyze the large deformations and failure characteristics of the surrounding rock, the influence factors of safe excavation and stability of underground openings, and to study the stability control countermeasures. The main factors influencing the stability and tunneling safety include large fault zones, high in situ stress, poor mechanical properties and engineering performance of the argillaceous rock mass, groundwater inrush and gas outburst. According to the field study, the anchor-ability of cables and the groutability of cement-matrix materials in the argillaceous rock in the large fault zones were extremely poor, and deformations and failure of the surrounding rock were characterized by dramatic initial deformation, high long-term creep rate, obviously asymmetric deformations and failure, rebound of roof displacements, overall loosened deformations of deep surrounding rock on a large scale, and high sensitivity to engineering disturbance and water immersion. Various geo-hazards occurred during the pilot excavation, including roof collapse, groundwater inrush, and debris flow. Control techniques are proposed and should be adopted to ensure tunneling safety and to control the stability of deep underground openings through large fault zones, including regional strata reinforcement technique such as ground surface pre-grouting, primary enhanced control measures, floor grouting reinforcement technique, and secondary enclosed support measures for long-term stability, which are critical for ensuring the sustainable development of the coal mine.

China’s energy structure mainly depends on coal resources, which will still play the dominant role in economic development in the future. With the mining depth increasing, the deep roadway construction will be exposed to a complex stress environment, increasing the difficulty of roof control and further hindering the mining activities. The problem of deep roadway excavation causing significant fracture scope of surrounding rock in and outside the anchorage zone has attracted much attention. For the large crack scope existing in the roadway roof of deep underground openings, this paper focuses on the exploration of upgrading the support system. In order to solve this problem, we investigated the zone damage of the roadway roof with the discrete element model using the UDEC trigon method and damage quantified evaluation with data analysis. The long anchorage and zone linkage support technology was proposed based on the damage control effect of varying lengths of supporting bolts. The purpose of extending the length of bolts is to link the more severely damaged rock mass in the shallow part to the minimum damaged part in the deep place, aiming to form the thick anchor zone to mobilize the rock mass in each zone to participate and bear the load together. Furthermore, the onsite application of long anchorage and zone linkage technology gained good control effects in the selected typical roadway with different geological conditions. The results show obvious resistance in cross-section shrinkage, integrity maintenance, and minimization of crack scope in the roadway roof. The promotion of long anchorage zone linkage technology can help the mine with similar situations uplift the efficiency of working and guarantee the safety of miners during mine service life in the deep coal roadway.