Abstract
The Selection of the mining method for underground minerals extraction is the crucial task for the mining engineers. Underground minerals extraction is a multi-criteria decision making problem due to many criteria to be considered in the selection process. There are many studies on selection of underground mining method using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques or approaches. Extracting minerals from the underground involves many geological characteristics also called as input parameters. The geological characteristics of any mineral deposit vary from one location to another location. Thus only one mineral extraction method is not suitable for different deposit characteristics. There are many mineral extraction methods available for different characteristics of the ore deposit. As of now only MCDM approach or Hybrid MCDM approaches or MCDM approaches with fuzzy logic were used for selecting a mining method for underground metal mine. In this study, only fuzzy logic approach is used for selecting a mining method for different deposit characteristics. The proposed model considers five deposit characteristics as input parameters and seven underground mining methods output parameters The developed fuzzy logic based approach is also validated by the deposit characteristics of two Indian mines. The model produced the suitable mining method for extraction of the minerals at the specified Indian mines and the same mining methods are used by the mine authorities.
Highlights
Mineral extraction process involves different characteristics of an ore deposit
5 Conclusion As underground mining method selection is based on multiple criteria, it it very difficult for the mining engineers to select proper mining method for extraction of the minerals
The five input parameters dip, shape, thickness, depth, and grade distribution considered in the study are uncertain and ambiguous in nature
Summary
Mineral extraction process involves different characteristics of an ore deposit. These characteristics are ore body dip at which angle the ore exists, shape of the ore body, thickness of the ore body, ore body depth at which the minerals exist from the surface, grade distribution of the minerals in the ore body, and many other parameters. There are different mining methods for underground excavation These methods include block caving, sub level stoping, sub level caving, room and pillar mining, shrinkage stoping, cut and fill stoping and square set stoping. These mining methods can be used for minerals extraction from the underground based on various geological conditions. Only fuzzy logic has been used to implement a preferable mining method for an ore deposit based on various geological characteristics. Fuzzy logic gives the preferable mining method for underground mineral extraction This approach was not used in the area of mining method selection, but used in other research areas and some are mentioned here. It is found that many other studies are used fuzzy logic for multiple criteria decision making
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