Selection of the Most Proper Underground Mining Method for Kodakan Gold Mine in Iran

The selection of mining methods is a challenging and complicated concept in mining engineering. It depends on various and different factors such as geotechnical, geological and economic properties and characteristics. Kodakan Gold Mine in Iran is currently mined using the open pit method. However, due to the special conditions of this mine and the increase in waste removal costs, it is inevitable to decide to select an underground mining method in the future. The purpose of this research is to select the most proper underground mining method for this mine. The shape, dip, and depth of the deposit, the thickness of the ore, grade distribution, recovery, skilled manpower, output per worker, and strength specifications of the ore, hanging-wall, and footwall are considered as the main decision attributes. Since there are different parameters in selecting the appropriate mining method using the multi-attribute decision making approach, therefore hybrid multi-attribute decision-making method was employed in this paper to enhance the strength of the decision model and eliminate the weaknesses of the classical methods. Regarding the results of this study, rock quality designation of the hanging-wall and deposit shape have the highest weight value in selecting the underground mining method. Moreover, the shrinkage mining method is proposed as the most appropriate method.