The variance cube technique is based on the statistic principle. The correlation of the seismic signals between the neighboring channels in the 3D seismic data body is used to calculate the variances of the sample spots and extract the discontinuous information in the data body, with the purpose of recognizing such lithologic variation spots as small faults and collapse pillars. Exemplified by a mining area in a coalfield of Shanxi Province and based on testing various parameters of the variance cube, this paper deals with the effects of such factors as the operation mode of the variance cube, the channel number of the operation and the size of the time window upon the calculation results. With the achievements made by the authors, the variance cube technique can yield relatively fine results in detecting such geological bodies as coal seam small faults and collapse pillars.