TITLE: A COMBINED AHP-PROMETHEE MCDM MODELS APPROACH FOR

MINING METHOD SELECTION OPTIMIZATION: CASE STUDY OF

BRAVURA ZIMBABWE

1. To carry out rational mining method selection.

2. To select an Optimal Mining Method for the Bravura ore body by utilizing AHP and PROMETHEE MCDM
software’s
3. To carry out a Sensitivity analysis.

Chapter 2 is divided into four sections.

1. Review potential mining methods which can be applied to Bravura ore body. (Room and
pillar; Breast stope; Apparent dip).

Mining method selection optimization

Anglo-American (2018) defined the mining method as the method of extracting ore from
the surface or below the surface of the earth. It also defined an optimal mining method as
one in which ore is mined safely, economically, and with as little waste as possible. The
selection of an optimal mining method considers the conditions of the ground that
determine the dimensions of any excavation, the extent and orebody type, and the amount
of waste in the scheduled stope (Alford et al., n.d.). Pickering (2004) mentioned that it is
the stopping method that is at the core of a mining system. Nelis et al. (2016) also
emphasized that the main objective of underground mining is to maximize economic
value from the extraction of an orebody and maintain a high level of safety in the
operation. To attain maximum economic value and a high level of safety, economical,
geological, and technical factors have to be taken into account in the selection of an
optimal mining method

Ore body characteristics evaluation

A key process in mining method selection is the evaluation of an orebody to determine

the selection criteria. An orebody according to Pandey (2018) has three distinct
components: The physical geometry of the geological units, technical factors, and
economic factors. Mining software has been developed to assist mine planners in the
orebody evaluation process. The mining software offers 3d visualization and query tools
to obtain information on geological orebody model .

Optimization criteria in mining method selection

Optimization criteria according to Dowgielewicz et al. (2006) are criteria on which the
optimization should be set.

The mining method section criteria can be categorized as geological, economic, and
technical factors. These factors form the characteristics of the orebody.

Mining-geological factors include the geometry of the deposit (ore thickness, general
shape, dip, plunge, depth below the surface), rock quality (ore zone, hanging wall, and
footwall, i.e., structures, strength, stress, stability), ore variability (ore boundaries, ore
uniformity, continuity, and grade distribution). Economic factors are not limited to capital
cost, operating cost, mineable ore tons, ore body grades, and ore value. Mining-technical
factors include annual productivity, applied equipment, health and safety, environmental
impact, ore dilution, mine recovery, flexibility of methods, machinery and mining rate,
and

However numerous studies have looked into the important variables affecting the choice
of mining techniques. Orebody thickness, dip, shape, grade distribution, ore depth,
orebody RSS, footwall RSS, hanging wall RSS, orebody RMR, value of mined ore, ore
recovery, coefficient of dilution, effects of mining, and occupational safety and health
conditions are some of the primary factors that Jianpu (2011) highlighted as having an
impact on platinum reef. The size of the reserves, surface infrastructure to be constructed,
overburden thickness and lithology, depth below the surface, extractable thickness, multi-
seam extraction, coal strength, geological features, primary mining method, equipment,
safety factor, and mining history are just a few of the geotechnical factors that Jeffrey
(2002) identified and ranked as influencing secondary extraction in South African
platinum mines.
UBC method

This paper uses the UBC methodology of rational choice of the mining method, which
represents the numerical ranking of mining methods and determining the most efficient
method of excavation, as well as a group of favorable methods for the excavation of a
given ore body.

The mining method selection process at UBC is based on an adaptation of Miller et al.'s b
surface mining techniques. The choice of excavation methods is made in such a way that
for each method of excavation special point values are adopted, the sum of which gives
the point value which is entered in a special table and based on those point values the
mining method selection.

General Shape Equi- All dimensions are on

/width dimensional the same order of
magnitude
Plenty - Two dimensions are
tabular many times the
thickness
Irregular Dimensions vary over
short distances
Ore thickness Very narrow <3m
Narrow 3 ÷ 10m
Intermediate 10 ÷ 30m
Thick 30 ÷ 100m
Very thick >100m
Plunge Flat <20 degrees
Intermediate 20 ÷ 55 degrees
Sleep >55 degrees
Depth below shallow 0 ÷ 100m
surface Intermediate 100 ÷ 600
deep
Grade Uniform The grade at any point
 distribution in the deposit does not
vary significantly from
the mean grade for that
deposit
Gradational Grades change
gradually from one to
another grade values
change radically over
short
Erratic Distances and do not
exhibit by discernible
pattern in their changes

Rock mass Very weak 0÷ 20

Rating ( RMR) weak 20 ÷ 40
Moderate 40 ÷ 60
Strong 60 ÷ 80
Very strong 80 ÷ 100
Rock Very weak <5
Substance weak 5 ÷ 10
strength (RSS) Moderate 10 ÷ 15
Strong >15

Underground mining methods for ore deposits

Several stoping methods with their variations have been devised to suit particular ore
deposits. The salient features of these methods and their applicability conditions are
enumerated in the literature review.

Existing underground mining methods

In the following section, different underground mining methods were illustrated in the
table for a better understanding of these operations.
Underground mining methods are classified as supported, unsupported, and caving
methods. Unsupported methods of mining are used to extract mineral deposits that are
roughly tabular (plus flat or steeply dipping) and are generally associated with strong ore
and ground conditions, the methods are termed unsupported because they do not use any
artificial pillars to assist in the support of the openings. However generous amounts of
roof bolting and localised support measures are often used.

Supported methods are artificially supported mining methods in the mine workings after
mining the support is removed and the mining cavities close up under the pressure of the
overburdened material.

Caving methods maximize recovery and after mining the methods are associated with
surface subsidence in the case of shallow mines and rock bursts. The cavity is a closure
that is either partial for shallow mines or complete for deep-level mines.

Unsupported s Caving
Squ
Long
Cut and are
Room Stope and Shrinkage Sublevel wall Sublevel Block
Factor fill set
and pillar pillar Stopping stoping stopin caving caving
stoping stop
g
ing
Weak/ Moderat Weak/
Orestr Moderate Moderate wea Moderate
Moderat strong e Any moderat
ength /strong /strong k /strong
e /strong e
Rock Weak Weak/
Moderat Moderate Fairly / wea
streng strong Weak /Mod weak moderat
e/ strong /strong strong k
th erate e
Deposi Tabular
Tabular/ Tabular/ Tabular/ Tabul Tabular/ Massive/
t Tabular /irregula Any
Lenticular lenticular lenticular ar massive thick
shape r
Deposi Low / Fairly Fairly Fairly Low/ Fairly Fairly
Low/ flat any
t dip Moderate steep steep steep flat steep steep
Usu
Thin/
Deposi Large/ Thin Thick/ ally Thin / Large Very
any moderat
t size thin /moderate moderate smal wide thick thick
e
l
Ore Moderat Low/ Fairly Mode
Fairly high Moderate High Moderate Low
grade e moderate high rate
Ore
Vari Unifor
unifor Uniform Variable uniform Uniform Variable Moderate Uniform
able m
mity
Shallow/ Mode
Shallow / Shallow/ Moderat Dee Moderat
Depth Moderat Moderate rate / Moderate
moderate moderate e /deep p e
e Deep
 POTENTIAL MINING METHOD

In recent developments, new mining methods have been introduced in South African
platinum mines which are breast-stoping and apparent dip mining these work best for
steeply deep narrow reef ore bodies. This thesis included these potential mining methods
as alternatives in the optimization process. Previous studies did not show any previous
work where these mining methods have been incorporated in the MMS process using
MCDM models to be specific. Some of the methods above will form part of the
alternative methods for Chapter 3. The methods have been used elsewhere. An apparent
dip was applied at Kafang Mine for steeply dipping orebody (Gua, 2014). Breast-stopping
and down-dip mining methods were applied at BHP Hartley Platinum Mine in Selous.
According to R.T Brown (1997), Hartley Platinum started life as a downdip mine, this
stoping method having been selected on the strength of its success at the Lonrho mines
east of Rustenburg in South Africa, where similar structural conditions occur. However,
downdip stopping was abandoned sometime later in favor of breast stopping, the main
reason being the urgent need to build up panel capacity and tonnage.

Underground mining
Unsupported
methods

Factor
Breast stoping Apparent dip mining Down dip
Ore strength Weak/moderate/strong Weak /Moderate Weak /Moderate
Rock strength Moderate/strong Moderate Moderate
Deposit shape Massive and tubular Massive /tubular Massive /tubular
Flat to steep 9-
Deposit dip 9-30 degrees 9-30 degrees
40degrees
Deposit size Large extent –not thickLarge extent –not thick Large extent –not thick
Moderate /any Moderate /any
Practically any
Ore grade practically economic practically economic
economic grade
grade grade
Ore uniformity Uniform Uniform Uniform
Shallow /moderate
Depth Shallow/moderate Shallow /moderate
AI approach to mining method selection

Data Pre-processing

Data pre-processing is a critical step in machine learning tasks, including mining method
selection using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Various techniques are employed to
ensure data quality and compatibility before feeding it into the model. Handling missing
values, normalizing numerical features, and encoding categorical variables are common
practices in data pre-processing (Chen & Liu, 2020). Missing data can be addressed using
methods like mean imputation, median imputation, or predictive imputation (Little et al.,
2019). Normalizing numerical features helps to standardize the scale of data, preventing
certain features from dominating the model (Sarkar & Chakrabarti, 2020). Categorical
variables are transformed into numerical representations through techniques like one-hot
encoding or label encoding (Srivastava et al., 2020).

Model Architecture

The choice of model architecture significantly influences the performance of ANN-based

mining method selection systems. The Cascade-Forward Backpropagation Neural
Network (CFBPNN) architecture is a popular choice due to its ability to capture complex
relationships within the dataset. This architecture typically comprises a cascade layer for
feature extraction, followed by forward and backpropagation layers for training (Nogueira
et al., 2019). The input layer represents the geological parameters, while the output layer
corresponds to the ranked mining methods based on the input data (Lee et al., 2021).

Training ANN for Mining Method Selection

Training ANNs involve iteratively feeding the training dataset through the model and
adjusting its weights and biases using backpropagation. The training process continues
until the model converges to a state where it effectively maps input geological parameters
to corresponding mining method rankings. MATLAB and Python are commonly used for
implementing the training process, leveraging libraries such as TensorFlow and Scikit-
Learn for neural network development (Huang et al., 2019).

Evaluation Criteria

Various evaluation criteria are employed to assess the performance of ANN-based mining
method selection models. These include accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, which
provide insights into the model's ability to correctly rank mining methods based on input
geological parameters (Singh et al., 2020). Classification metrics such as global accuracy
rate (GAR) and decision support metrics from the confusion matrix are also utilized to
comprehensively evaluate the model's performance (Rao et al., 2018).

Validation

Validation of ANN models involves testing them on independent datasets not used during
training. This step ensures that the model generalizes well to new data and provides
reliable mining method recommendations in real-world scenarios (Bhardwaj & Pal, 2020).
Cross-validation techniques such as k-fold cross-validation are commonly employed to
validate the model's performance and assess its robustness (Kohavi, 1995).

Implementation in Python

Python has emerged as a popular programming language for implementing ANN-based

mining method selection systems. Libraries like TensorFlow and Scikit-Learn offer
comprehensive tools for neural network development, data pre-processing, and model
evaluation (Brownlee, 2020). Integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Visual
Studio Code provide a user-friendly interface for coding and debugging Python scripts
(Akers, 2019).

.
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