Abstract: Groundwater environment is closely related to the protection and restoration of surface ecological environment, and the detection of groundwater resources is an important content to master the characteristics of groundwater environment. In the setting of the ecological restoration of Hongshaquan Open-pit Mining Area, four different geoelectric models are constructed on the basis of geological column and its resistivity logging curves obtained by a borehole. Based on one-dimensional forward theory, the transient electromagnetic induced voltage and its apparent resistivity response curves with a small coil device are obtained. Comparative analysis for these curves shows that induced voltage and its apparent resistivity under different aquifer geoelectric model conditions are sensitive to aquifer water-bearing response, and there are obvious differences between them in 0.01-50 ms, which reflects the feasibility of using small coil transient electromagnetic method to detect groundwater resources in the study area in theory. Combined with the field detection test data and drilling exposure, the effectiveness and reliability of small coil transient electromagnetic technology in the detection of groundwater resources are verified.