Haulage system selection for Parvadeh Coal Mine using multi-criteria decision making methods

One of the key components of any project, especially mining projects, is the selection and design of haulage equipment. In most mining activities, which sometimes include mining machinery, haulage costs form a major part of the operating expenses as a matter of concern to mine managers. Due to various factors affecting the selection process of a haulage system, it is not considered a crystal clear one. Because of the complexity and multi-criterion characteristic of the selection process, the use of multi-criterion decision-making methods can be of great help to solve this problem. The TOPSIS, AHP and VIKOR methods among the multi-criterion decision-making methods are some options which are based on priority ranking. In the current paper, the loading systems of conveyors, wagons and winches as well as the locomotives and wagons are investigated. Then, the aforementioned systems are used to make a hybrid based on eight criteria, which yields the best loading system for the Parvadeh Coal Mine in Tabas. Since the obtained results were not consistent with each other in some cases, some integration techniques were utilized to employ the above methods. After integrating the results of the ranking methods, the conveyor haulage system was eventually introduced as the best option.