Abstract: Mining is an important pillar industry for the stable development of China's national economy and national security. It provides a steady flow of raw and auxiliary materials for many industries and agricultures. It is an irreplaceable basic industry in the modern economic system. With rapid development of the national economy，the contradiction between supply and demand of China's metal mineral resources becomes more and more prominent. Although China's output of crude steel，ten kinds of non-ferrous metals and gold has ranked first in the world for many years，iron，copper and other bulk mineral raw materials are heavily dependent on imports. While surface resources keeps depleting，underground mines will be the main battlefield of metal mining. In view of the current research status of underground mining of metal mines，"deep mining"，"intelligent mining" and "green mining" will be the three development directions of metal mining in China. Rock drilling and blasting，transportation and lifting，rock reinforcement，paste filling and remote control are currently the five key technologies for underground mining of metal mines. Around these five key technologies，the development process and new progress are systematically reviewed. Finally，the prospective technologies and theories of underground mining of metal mines such as robotic mining technology，fluidized mining technology and super-large smart mine construction are put forward. The new situation brings new opportunities to the development of mining industries that are facing the key transition period "from shallow to deep，from easy to difficult，and from rich to poor" mining，and new challenges in theory，technology， equipment and other aspects. The opportunities and challenges have urged us to explore and innovate to tackle key scientific and technological problems，to break through key technical bottlenecks，and to develop core equipment independently. This will lead to safe，economical，efficient，environmentally friendly and intelligent mining of mineral resources，and guarantee the safety of China's metal mineral resources.

Key words: metal mine, underground mining, key technologies, new progress, development direction