Mine heat hazards have resulted in large amounts of high-quality coal resources in deep that cannot be mined. The mining industry is paying more and more attention to the extraction and utilization of geothermal energy in mines, while at the same time reducing the underground temperature to realize co-extraction of coal and heat. In addition, coal mines tend to burn large amounts of coal to heat mine buildings and provide hot water for workers’ daily baths, creating operating costs and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the feasibility of extracting geothermal energy to provide the daily heat load for mines. Currently, there is little research on the feasibility of geothermal energy extraction and utilization in productive mines instead of abandoned mines. In this study, according to the actual situation of Xinhu mine in eastern China, a combined geothermal water system and heat-pump heating system is proposed, aiming to effectively realize mine cooling and geothermal exploitation and utilization. The geothermal storage capacity in the area is analyzed, and an economic analysis is developed. The economic analysis indicates that the main factors affecting the feasibility of the system are the number of mine users, the distance from the geothermal production well to the mine buildings, and the coal price. The research shows that the economic efficiency of the system is better when the heating scale is larger and the distance is smaller. As coal prices rise, the combined geothermal water and heat-pump heating system will be more economical than traditional coal heating. If a mine has 2000 workers, the application of this system can prevent 334.584 t of CO₂ emissions per year.

When a coal mining district enters its final mining stage, the coal resources in boundary areas usually present irregular shapes, and the width of section coal pillars varies with the working-face dimension. Therefore, the stability of section coal pillars under unequal-length working faces is critical for roadway maintenance and working-face mine-pressure control. At present, most international studies on remnant-coal-pillar mining focus on regular-shaped section pillars and mainly concentrate on mine-pressure control, while few investigations concern the high-efficiency mining design for remnant coal pillars. Taking an irregular occurrence area in a Xinjiang mining area as the engineering background, this paper analyzes the geological and mining conditions from the perspective of working-face mining design and establishes a collaborative roof-control model for unequal-length working faces. The distribution law of main roof load under unequal-length working faces is revealed. It is identified that the coal pillar adjacent to the room-and-pillar goaf is the key object for roof mine-pressure prevention and control. A discriminant formula between the ultimate strength and height–width ratio of unequal-width coal pillars is derived. Combined with the load distribution characteristics of the stope, the theoretical reserved width for unequal-width section coal pillars is proposed. Field practice shows that the actual pillar width in situ is basically consistent with the theoretical calculation result. During mining, the maximum dynamic pressure coefficient of the working face is only 1.12, and the maximum roadway surrounding-rock deformation is less than 300 mm, which realizes effective stope mine-pressure control.