Abstract: The biomass of herb communities at the initial natural reclamation stage of fields of gangue were studied for three years using the Shanxi site of the Si’ma coal mining limited company of the Luan mining group. The method of space sequence, not time sequence, provided the basic data and theory reference for the ecological performance evaluation and species selection at the initial natural reclamation stage. 1) There was a significant (P<0.05) difference between the biomass of different communities. The trend of total biomass and total underground biomass of herb communities initially increased then decreased, but the total aboveground biomass continually declined so that the ratio of underground biomass to aboveground biomass increased; 2) There was no significant correlation between the total coverage, average height and biomass of communities. Similarity of the species composition of communities was low but the significant difference in biomass was greater. There was a significant (P<0.05) positive correlation between underground biomass and total biomass of perennial herbs, but not of annual herbs; 3) The Summed Dominance Ratio showed that the dominant species in the first year of colonisation was Artemisia lavandulifolia, but in the second year it was Cleistogenes hancei and Leymus chinensis, and in the third year it was L. chinensis, while in the natural grassland it was Heteropappus altaicus and L. chinensis. The trend of total biomass of the dominant species, L. chinensis, was to increase. Its aboveground and underground biomasses showed mutual growth and decline. L. chinensis plays an important role in improving community productivity and speeding up the process of natural recovery on the reclamation area. The high average coverage and average height of Artemisia herbs (either A. lavandulifolia or A. annua), inhibited the accumulation of biomass of Artemisia herbs.