Fuzzy Logic for Underground Mining Method Selection

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.