Coal is the dominant energy resource in China,its exploitation and utilization is related directly to the nations economic sustainable development.But the cases of unsustainable utilization still exist every now and then.In order to analyse the spatial distribution,exploitation and utilization of coal resources reserves in China,the concept of coal resources potential was introduced and classified with the aid of the concept and principle of filed theory in physics;and the coal resources relative potential,trend potential and resource,economic potential considering resource conditions and status of regional the economic development were analysed and the computing formulas ware infereed.Based on these,the three types of resources potentials involved 78 coal mining areas in China are computed.Meanwhile,a series of conceptions such as economic center of gravity,reserves center of gravity and output center of gravity,the variation link between economic development and resource utilization in spatial and temporal dimensions are identified and analyzed quantatively.Finally,the spatial distribution and the application prospects of coal resource,economic potentials are also analyzed.The results indicate that the spatial distribution of coal resource uneven in China.At the same time it makes certain that this method can scientifically and reasonably describe status of regional coal resource,and can be used to classify and price of regional coal resource,to evaluate value of coal resource capital or to formulate corresponding policy and programme of resources economy by taking into account of the embedding conditions and quality of coal resource.