In hilly regions, landslides or slope failures are very common phenomena, when underground mineral resources are excavated. In this study, some landslide disasters in a mountain mining area were analyzed. The engineering geological and instability reason were investigated. The numerical simulation of a high steep rock slope disturbed by a room and pillar mine was established. The failure process of a high steep rock slope induced by the pillar deterioration was analyzed to reveal the characteristics of deformation and sliding. The results show that the pillar plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the slope, if the pillar can support the overlying rock mass, only a tiny deformation will be induced. When the pillar fails and the roof caves, the overlying rock mass above the room and pillar goaf will rapidly subside, and the crack evolution of slope is induced, forming the potential slip surface. The landslide mass gradually moves. When the rock mass at the middle and lower of the slope is squeezed out, slope sliding will be induced. The failure process can be divided into four stages as follow: tiny displacement is caused by the mining, roof collapse is caused by the pillar failure, the potential slip surface is formed from the crack evolution; the slope sliding is induced by the fracturing of rock mass at the middle and lower of the slope.