Abstract: Previous mining activities have led to and left behind a series of environmental pollution and ecological degradation problems, constraining China’s long-term sustainable “ecological-economic-social” development. In conjunction with the advancement of China’s ecological civilization construction, the mine’s ecological environment protection and restoration work must be optimized and improved. China’s mine ecological restoration remains burdened by historical debts, insufficient capital investment, and limited financial growth. Addressing how to effectively advance mine ecological restoration through market-oriented approach has become a critical challenge. Adaptive management, characterized by its dynamic, flexible, and scientific approach, holds the potential for accelerating ecosystem resilience and promoting harmony between humans and nature. Despite this potential, the application of adaptive management in China’s mining ecological restoration has not yet formed a comprehensive system, especially at the current node where the market-oriented approach has not yet achieved an effective breakthrough. Consequently, it is necessary to carry out systematic sorting and analysis of it. This study aims to apply the iterative concept of “learning, adjusting, re-learning, and re-adjusting” within the context of adaptive management to analyze issues based on the fundamental steps of “problem identification, policy formation, policy implementation, systematic monitoring, evaluation, and feedback.” Furthermore, this study seeks to elucidate the internal logic, policy evolution, development progress, and prominent challenges of market-oriented approach to promote the ecological restoration of mines in China. Drawing upon the implementation of adaptive management at both macro and micro scales, this study proposes several future trajectories: advocating for “flexible policy implementation and dynamic adjustments” “regulatory foundations complemented by incentives and empowerment” “multi-stakeholder collaboration for coordinated governance”. Furthermore, it advocates for “scientifically crafted restoration plans complemented by the judicious application of restoration technologies”, advocates the necessity of “conducting dynamic monitoring and evaluation to flexibly recalibrate restoration interventions”, and underscores the importance of “integrating diverse industrial developments to address multifaceted restoration objectives”. This research provides insights and methodologies for applying adaptive management in mine ecological restoration and offers references for further advancing market-oriented ecological restoration efforts in the future.