Abstract: This paper analyzes the present situation, common challenges, and technological upgrade pathways for intelligent coal mine development in China. Based on construction practices from 2020 to 2025, it identifies that intelligent coal mine development has entered an “intermediate bottleneck” phase, facing five major core technological challenges: unresolved breakthroughs in critical core technologies that hinder implementation effectiveness; a superficial contradiction between investment and immediate economic returns; insufficient technical maturity in the standardization framework; lagging evolution of new production models; and inadequate system operational resilience. To address these issues, the study proposes solutions including a “bottom-up” approach to overcome foundational technological barriers, establish a four-dimensional economic evaluation model, refine standard classification levels, reform management systems, and create a closed-loop integrated model encompassing construction, operation, and maintenance. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the strategy focuses on optimizing project organizational support, enhancing routine operational capabilities, establishing standardized intelligent project economic evaluation models and assessment mechanisms, and improving standard system maturity to achieve breakthroughs in 12 key technologies across five critical areas: comprehensive integration of mining, transportation, safety, and support systems; trustworthy large-scale models and data fusion; high-quality sensing, transmission, computing, and control technologies; intelligent mining equipment for unconventional scales (ultra-high, ultra-thin, ultra-long) and complex conditions; auxiliary mining robots with embodied intelligence; network infrastructure capabilities; professional large-model and data fusion applications; multi-modal intelligent disaster prevention; unmanned main transportation systems; intelligent, efficient continuous auxiliary transportation; transparent geological analysis; specialized auxiliary robots with embodied intelligence; smart power supply and face voltage optimization; unmanned intrinsically safe ventilation; minimally staffed integrated control tunneling; unmanned high-order intelligent mining; safety-oriented intelligent collaborative technologies for open-pit mining operations; and intelligent washing, storage, and transportation systems for “black-light factories”. The research summarizes four-tier iterative development patterns in coal mine intelligence: from standalone automation to system-wide intelligence; from technology-driven to data-business dual-driven advancement; from human-machine control to collaborative operations; and from safety-first to efficient, green synergy. It proposes a three-tier architecture (perception-execution, network transmission, cognitive decision-making) to guide the technological evolution toward fully intelligent mines throughout their lifecycle.