Abstract: The coal independent mining area has made an important contribution to the national economic construction, but with the social development and the development and utilization of coal resources, its development is facing many challenges, such as economic recession, sharp contradiction between the mine and the land, ecological damage and so on.The transformation and sustainable development of the mining area has become a hot topic.Therefore, through combing the existing literature, this paper clarifies the concept of coal independent mining areas, traces the development process and characteristics of coal independent mining areas, and summarizes the research progress in policy, economy, urban development and ecology.The transformation of coal independent mining areas is related to the sustainable development of China’s economy and society, which is of great significance to the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, the dynamic balance of ecological environment and social benefits.Finally, prospect for future research, the research should focus on the further definition of the mining area concept, the exploration of the transformation path of mining area in different life periods, the promotion of comprehensive land use in mining area, and the construction of comprehensive spatial coordination planning system.