Coal gangue is a potential resource. A large number of coal gangues not able to be disposed quickly due to the existing technical conditions occupied land and caused ecological environment problem, which has become a hot issue of ecological environment conservation in coal mining area. The vegetation restoration of coal gangue mountain is the best way for in-situ conservation and environmental protection. Humic acid (HA), as the main component of humus, has a positive effect on improving the unfavorable plant growth environment. To discuss the effects of HA on nutrient release from coal gangue, an experiment of incubator at constant temperature was conducted to study the characteristics of the pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of coal gangue and the release of alkali hydrolysable nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) from gangues under different humic acid concentrations and incubation durations. Compared with treatment without HA (CK), the pH of coal gangue with HA increased significantly, the highest value reached 7.77, while the EC value decreased sharply, with an average of 126.13 μS/cm, dropped by 77.81% compared with the average EC value of CK. All the AP and AN of coal gangue added with HA increased greatly. The content of AP was 2.33 times that of CK, and the content of AN reached 1.94 times that of CK. The same is true of AK. The greater the concentration of humic acid added, the better the effect of promoting the release of nutrients from coal gangue. During the incubation, all the indicators for study presented a change characterized as "V" or "N", and in the later stage, the change gradually showed trend of stability. Coal gangue has a certain potential for nutrient supply, therefore, adding humic acid to coal gangue can improve the availability of plant nutrients.