Shaft location selection at deep multiple orebody deposit by using fuzzy TOPSIS method and network optimization

A shaft is a vertical passageway connecting the surface to ore deposit located deep under surface. The decision on the shaft location is a critical element in the strategic planning for underground mine development system design. Ore deposit is often composed of few independent orebodies located in different places in the space that must be interconnected into one integrated system. In this paper, we examine the case when access points to orebodies lay in the Euclidean plane. We apply fuzzy techniques to incorporate data related to ore reserve and costs into shaft location problem. Fuzzy TOPSIS method is used for the multi-criteria evaluation of the location of the base of the shaft. To identify candidate points (alternatives), we use network optimization based on applying Kruskal’s algorithm and adding Steiner points. The set of candidate points is given by the union of access and Steiner points.