Abstract: The ore grade of crown pillar at -580 m level of Ⅴ# ore body in Xincheng gold mine is high.But there exists hidden danger to recover it due to the complex geological conditions.In order to determine the optimal mining method for crown pillars，a catastrophe theory is adopted to optimize the mining method.The catastrophe progression method with the catastrophe mathematics and fuzzy mathematics is used to establish an integrated superiority evaluation model of mining method.Based on slope stability evaluation method of catastrophe progression，different factors (safety，capacity，economic and technical index) for mining method selection are comprehensively considered.According to the normalized quantitative recursive formula for computing，the mutation progression of three mining schemes is determined to be 0.972，0.969，0.956 respectively，so scheme I is optimal.The underground industrial test showed that scheme I is reasonable.It is feasible to apply the mutation progression method into the optimization of mining method.

Key words: Catastrophe progression method, Crown pillar recovery, Mining optimization, Ground pressure monitoring