Mining activities caused heavy metal enrichment in mine soils. Sixty-six soil samplings of 26 mines in the central Tianshan Mountains of China were conducted to reveal heavy metal pollution for the single-factor (P_i), Nemerow comprehensive pollution (P_N), geo-accumulation (I_geo), potential ecological risk (E_i), and health risks. The results indicate that mines in Bayingolin and Aksu exhibit the most severe pollution (P_N = 26.64 and 25.28), characterized by Cd (P_i = 115.18) and As (P_i = 67.20), forming a Cd-As compound pattern. While Ili mines show Ni-Cu co-exceedance, and Turpan mines have lower overall pollution but localized Cd enrichment. Additionally, Cd is identified as the most severe by I_geo, with moderate or higher pollution levels observed in 61.00% of samplings. The E_i assessment revealed that Cd posed the greatest threat, with 100%, 53.80%, and 30.70% of samplings indicating slight, high, and extremely high ecological risk levels, respectively. Health risk assessment indicated that non-carcinogenic risks were dominated by Cr (affecting 19.20% of samplings), while carcinogenic risks were primarily from As (7.70%) and Cd (11.50% of samplings), with Cr exhibiting the highest carcinogenic risk. Furthermore, comparative analysis showed that underground mines led to higher pollution levels (I_geo) for Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn compared to open-pit mines, and metal mines incurred greater heavy metal(loid) contamination than non-metal mines. These findings could provide data for mine soil pollution remediation in the central Tianshan Mountains.

Land subsidence induced by underground coal mining consistently leads to persistent ponding in coal-grain overlapping areas (COAs), substantially impairing agricultural productivity. However, amid stringent farmland protection policies, mining operations face significant sustainability challenges. In this study, Guqiao Coal Mine in Anhui of China, is taken as a case, and four mining-reclamation schemes were conducted to compare patterns, and applicable conditions for each scheme are proposed based on concurrent mining and reclamation (CMR). Results show that: (1) Historically, traditional mining-reclamation (TMR) dominated due to low immediate reclamation costs despite extensive farmland loss; (2) Currently, earthwork-conserving CMR (ECMR) offers practical advantages by balancing economic investment and farmland reclamation. ECMR enhances land reclamation and reduces indirect costs, but leads to premature farmland degradation and prolonged compensation burdens; (3) Henceforth, reducing-degradation CMR (RCMR) can eliminate farmland degradation but is constrained by low coal-extraction rates, making it less feasible under current coal economic constraints; (4) In the prospective future, coupling CMR (CCMR) delays land degradation while improving reclamation efficiency, shortening the restoration cycle by 42% for ECMR, and raising coal-extraction rate to over 92% for RCMR. It restores 70% of degraded farmland and reduces seedling compensation costs by over 63 million yuan for ECMR in 30 years. CCMR also has strong performance in reducing surface ponding, maintaining grain security, and minimizing social displacement. Our findings underscore CCMR's superiority in aligning economic, ecological, and social objectives. It offers a replicable model for sustainable resource management in C1OAs globally, particularly under tightening environmental and agricultural policies.