Abstract: Intelligentization is the key way to develop the surface coal mining industry, The overall characteristics of the intelligent development of surface mining in China are “Clear policy orientation, steady growth, and weak foundation”. Combining with the current intelligent development trend of open-pit mines at domestic and abroad, the current development trend are as follows: widely application of automation equipment and systems, integration of production design and mining, and integration of informationized data links, data processing and decision making. The key issues facing the current intelligent planning work are: the concept and connotation of the intelligentization of surface mines are relatively vague, the planning content and implementation approaches involved in intelligent transformation have not yet been systematic, and there are knowledge barriers in the intersection of professional disciplines, lack of reasonable "Input-output" evaluation criteria, lack of decision-making basis for the priority of planning content. The current important basic work are: construction of intelligent knowledge map for surface coal mines, construction of evaluation system for reasonable wisdom of mines, and decision-making methods for planning content priorities.