Abstract: Starting from the point that the consumption of resources and the absorption of rejectamenta can be traced back to the area they take, this paper believes that the sustainable exploitation of mineral resources can be analyzed by the theory of ecological footprint. Considering the effect ways and channels of the mineral resources exploitation activities on the ecological environment, concept systems are established as ecological footprint intensity of mineral resources exploitation, general mineral resources exploitation ecological footprint, MEF_C, MEF_D, MEF_P and detailed lists corresponding to them are given .The sustainable exploitation level of coal exploitation is calculated from year 2000 to year 2005 in Shanxi province basing on statistic data analysis. The result indicates that the MEF_P is the biggest and the MEF_C next.