The concept and meaning of the acid-base accounting methodology was introduces. Based on the acidic and basic minerals types and their contents in the overburden samples, three main parameters, MPA, NP and NNP, and their analysis methods were described in detail with MPA representing maximum potential acidity, NP meaning neutralization potential and NNP the net neutralization potential. The guideline for predicting the overburden as either acid-generating or alkaline was also given in the paper.