Abstract: China is a big mining country, but not a strong one yet.In order to accelerate the modernization of metal mining industry, in accordance with national conditions and thinking about the future, three metal mining developmental themes are put forward, which are: green mining; deep mining and intelligent mining.The paper has discussed the mining developmental topics related to definitions, connotations, the background of innovation, science and technology requirements and prospects for development, respectively.Furthermore, some innovative academic ideas are proposed.

Key words: Metal mine, Green mining, Deep mining, Intelligent mining