Abstract: To scientifically assess the ecological environment of mining area, a concept of buffer area is proposed and the plant coverage rate, soil erosion rate, water body pollution rate, geological disaster occurrence rate, and land resource occupation and destruction rate are chosen as the indexes for the assessment. The information of the ecological environment of mining area is obtained through remote sensing and assessed by means of GIS , mainly by carrying out  the operations of spatial overlapping, extraction, value assignment and buffer area on the basic data layers so as to produce new spatial characters and new attribute relations. The method has the advantages of rapid calculation and strong function.

Key words: GIS, Mining area, Assessment of ecological environment