It is a universal problem that the eco-geological environment has been damaged by mineral resources exploitation. The accurate evaluation of eco-geological environmental security (EES) in mining areas is essential for restoring the environment of the mining area. However, a robust approach to obtaining an accurate evaluation of ESS has not yet been produced due to the complex spatio-temporal process of EES. Here, we developed a new method for enabling the quantitative evaluation of the EES spatio-temporal process. The EES evaluation index system of mining areas was established from both natural and anthropogenic aspects. The EES evaluation method was developed by combining the catastrophe theory and projection pursuit model (PPM). Then, with the support of remote sensing (RS) and a geographic information system (GIS), the method was applied to evaluate the spatio-temporal process of EES in Panxi mining area. The bifurcation curve and receiver operating characteristic curve were used to verify the developed method. The results showed that this method could accurately evaluate the spatio-temporal process of EES in a mining area and could successfully recognise the threshold value to distinguish the safe status and unsafe status. Strong spatio-temporal variations of EES in Panxi area were found, which may be the result of the combined effect of multiple factors (e.g. mineral resource exploitation, soil erosion, and ecological restoration). In summary, the combination of catastrophe theory and PPM with RS and GIS to quantitatively evaluate the spatio-temporal process of EES in mining areas is a robust method.

矿产资源开发破坏了生态地质环境是一个普遍的问题。准确评估矿区的生态地质环境安全（EES）对于恢复矿区的环境至关重要。但是，由于EES的时空过程复杂，因此尚未获得可靠的方法来获得ESS的准确评估。在这里，我们开发了一种新方法，可以对EES时空过程进行定量评估。从自然和人为两方面建立了矿区EES评价指标体系。EES评估方法是通过结合突变理论和投影追踪模型（PPM）来开发的。然后，在遥感（RS）和地理信息系统（GIS）的支持下，该方法用于评价攀西矿区EES的时空过程。使用分叉曲线和接收器工作特性曲线来验证所开发的方法。结果表明，该方法能够准确评估矿区EES的时空过程，并能成功识别阈值，以区分安全状态和不安全状态。攀西地区EES的时空变化很强，这可能是多种因素（如矿产资源开发，水土流失和生态恢复）共同作用的结果。总之，将突变理论和PPM结合RS和GIS来定量评估矿区EES的时空过程是一种可靠的方法。