The application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Yager’s method in underground mining method selection problem

Abstract

Underground mining method selection (UMMS) is one of the most important decisions in mining engineering. Choosing a suitable underground mining method to carry out extraction from a mineral deposit is very important for all stage of mining operations. In practice, UMMS is one of the multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) problems and mining engineers have some difficulties in making the right decision in the multiple criteria environment. In this paper, the following two similar MADM methods are described: analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making are applied to select the optimal underground mining method for lignite mine located in Istanbul. At the end of decision-making process, sensitivity analysis process is applied for each method.