The effective exploitation of coal resources and the environmental protection of mining areas are the important contents of China's sustainable development strategy, and also the key issues to be considered in the process of industrialization and urbanization. As an exhaustible resource, coal mining must follow the principles of environmental protection, intergenerational equity and efficient utilization. In the current situation of economic restructuring, frequent environmental disasters in mining areas and alternative new energy has not really played a role, it is particularly important to find the optimal consumption path of coal resources for sustainable economic growth. After analyzing the growth limit of coal demand and output, this chapter will further study whether the consumption mode of coal resources in China is reasonable, whether it is the optimal consumption path, or the degree of deviation from the optimal consumption path. From the perspective of social utility maximization, referring to the theory of Hotelling exhaustible resources and the "golden rule" of optimal consumption, this paper establishes an optimal control model, studies the optimal consumption time path of China's coal resources, compares the actual consumption of coal with the optimal consumption path, and takes the optimal consumption path as the regulation target of coal demand.