Abstract: The Hunjiang River basin is located within the Liaodong−Jinan ore-forming region. With a long history of mining operations, long-term intensive mineral exploitation has gradually depleted mineral resources and triggered a variety of ecological and environmental problems derived from legacy mines. To facilitate ecological restoration of mines in this basin, legacy mines in the Hunjiang River basin were taken as the research object. It systematically analyzes the damage characteristics of mine ecosystems in the basin, and dynamically investigates the temporal degradation patterns of core ecological functions including vegetation growth, water conservation, carbon sequestration, soil conservation and habitat maintenance within mining areas and their surrounding regions from 2005 to 2025, so as to identify the primary obstacles restricting local mine ecological restoration. Prominent problems concerning legacy mines in the Hunjiang River basin are revealed. A large number of abandoned and unclaimed mining sites, severe damage to key ecological, governance framework for basin-wide mines from three dimensions: hierarchical engineering management, joint prevention and control of biological and ecological risks, and optimization of policy and institutional mechanisms. Key ecological governance zones are delineated, and targeted systematic restoration measures are proposed, including remediation of industrial and mining wasteland, improvement of soil and water environments, reconstruction of vegetation communities, and precise prevention and control of geological hazards. Adopting a zoned, categorized and systematically coordinated ecological governance model can eliminate potential geological hazards in mining areas, restore damaged soil, water and vegetation ecosystems, greatly enhance ecosystem service functions such as water retention, carbon fixation, soil protection and biodiversity habitation, and achieve overall improvement of ecological conditions in mining areas. The technical schemes and governance approaches summarized can provide crucial theoretical support and engineering references for the ecological restoration of legacy mines in resource-exhausted river basins in frigid northern regions of China.