A literature review of Multi Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) towards mining method selection (MMS)

Mining Method Selection (MMS) is one of the important decisions in the mining design. The appropriate decision guarantees economic exploitation and an unsuitable selection may lead to mining losses. The decision on mining method depends on several parameters such as geometric factors, geotechnical, geological conditions, economic and environmental factors, etc. The past decades, empirical models were using to select the mining method. There are shortcomings with empirical models, such as limitations in the number of criteria and options, decision-making in crisp and certain situations, unclear answers and dependence on experience and so on. The using of Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has been considered to select the best mining method recently. In this research, a comprehensive literature review are presented in order to uncover and interpret the current research on MCDM applications in MMS. For this purpose, a reference bank has been established based on a classification scheme which includes 55 research papers already published in 18 scholarly journals up to 2020. Quartile Scores in the web of knowledge (Q) was used for validation of the articles. Distribution of the articles throughout the world and according to different ore bodies was also evaluated. Results showed that AHP and TOPSIS were the most preferred methods used in selection of the mining methods. Fuzzy decision making has recently gained more importance for consideration of uncertainty. Also, the important role of criteria in different ores is presented as a guide for MMS.