With the increase in mining depth, the heat hazard becomes more prominent, and it is difficult to meet the cooling demands through ventilation optimization alone. The key to implementation of refrigeration cycles in underground mines lies in selecting a suitable heat sink (cold source). This study takes the heat hazard governance in a gold mine in Guizhou, China as an example, and proposes using backfilled abandoned roadways as a heat sink to accommodate heat transferred from the working faces or the fresh air inlet. The thermal properties of the backfill material and surrounding rock samples of the abandoned roadway were measured; a numerical model of heat rejection to the abandoned roadway was established. Long term application scenarios under two operational modes and three heat exchange buried pipe layouts were simulated to analyze the variation of outlet water temperature, heat transfer power and coefficient of performance of the system. The study indicates that merely increasing the number of heat exchange pipes could not significantly improve the technical and economic performance; and intermittent operation mode was beneficial for mitigating the heat accumulation risk and improving heat transfer intensity of U pipe, which is crucial for the long-term and sustainable operation of the system. Based on the cooling load of a working face, the scrap value of heat transfer power was determined. The feasibility of different application scenarios was compared and evaluated based on heat transfer intensity of U pipe and the total accommodated heat capacity of the heat sink within its service life span. The research results provide a scientific support for the reuse of abandoned mines and heat hazard governance by green and effective approaches.