The upper overburden in the northern mining belt of Xiaoqinling is quaternary sediments with thickness from 700 to 950m. Malignant incidents such as bit sticking, bit burial, hole caving often happen in drilling, and even result in the scrapping of the drilling hole, which seriously restricts drilling efficiency, leading to high drilling cost. In view of these technical difficulties, technical analysis and research were carried out. Through optimizing the borehole structure, adopting the wireline core drilling method suitable for the thick overburden in the mining area, properly choosing the drilling fluid with good borehole wall protection, and other technical measures, the difficulty in drilling the thick overburden was solved; meanwhile, the drilling efficiency and quality were improved, and the drilling cost was reduced.