Abstract: Mine safety production is sensitive to the national image and is an important issue gaining attention both in and outside China. The safety situation in both metal and nonmetal mines is not optismetic as mine accidents frequently occur. Open-pit mining production occupies a large proportion in mining in China and nearly 40% of the open-pit slopes have the problem of instability, with the more serious disasters occurring in medium and large size open-pit slopes in both metal and non-metal mines. Such slopes are characterized by great slope height and complex engineering geological conditions. With the increase of the mining depth, the slope stability tends to be increasingly more serious and the disasters such as slope sliding have become the major disastors endangering the safety mining and the security of people's life and property. Based on the summary of the survey data, the status quo of the medium and large size open-pit slopes in both metal and non-metal mines in China are analyzed and the specific countermeasures are proposed.

Key words: Medium and large size slopes in open-pit mines, Stability, Status quo and countermeasures