Abstract: Mineral resources development intensity is an important index to measure regional mining economy. Scientifically identifying the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influence factors of the development intensity of mineral resources is of great significance for the sustainable development of regional economy. This paper combined mining right, output scale, exploitation area to measure the development intensity of mineral resources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2017, and discussed the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influence factors of the development intensity of its mineral resources. The results show that: (1) Mineral resources development intensity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is on the rise on the whole, and presents significant spatial distribution with a spatial pattern of being high in the southwest and low in the northwest; (2) The overall gap in the development intensity of mineral resources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is widening, and intra-regional differences are greater than inter-regional differences, among which the internal differences in the upstream region account for the largest proportion; (3) Mineral resources development intensity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt presents a significantly positive spatial correlation which keeps increasing; (4) Mineral resources development intensity is affected by resource endowment, ecological environment, social economy and other factors, among which the reserves of mineral resources, the importance degree of the ecological environment, GDP per capita and labor input are the main factors affecting the change of mineral resources development intensity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.