Abstract: To satisfy the need of the sustainable development evaluation of mining area, through the field survey of the production and living conditions of Lala Copper Mine in Sichuan and based on the systematic structure of mineral resource-environment- economy-society, an index system for the sustainable development of Lala Copper mining area which consists of four hierarchies and 29 indicators is built by using hierarchical structure model. Eight individual indicators characteristic of this mining area are selected by contrasting with other domestic and international evaluation index systems for sustainable development, namely,  natural population growth rate, mine area, control rate of water and soil erosion, per capita farmland area, forest coverage，water environment quality，incidence of geological disasters and school-age children enrollment rate. Brief explanation is made of the selection for each individual indicator.

Key words: Sustainable development, Evaluation index, Hierarchical structure model, Lala Copper Mine