ORIGINAL PAPER
An approach based on Fuzzy Best-Worst method for sustainable evaluation of mining industries
 
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1
Ph.D Student, Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
 
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
 
 
Submission date: 2020-02-10
 
 
Final revision date: 2020-05-17
 
 
Acceptance date: 2020-05-17
 
 
Publication date: 2020-06-29
 
 
Corresponding author
Mehdi Pezeshkan   

Ph.D Student, Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
 
 
Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi – Mineral Resources Management 2020;36(2):41-70
 
KEYWORDS
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ABSTRACT
The mines play an important role in the economic growth of countries since they are suppliers to many industries. In addition to the economic growth, the mines positively affect the social development factors such as the employment creation, the development of rural areas, building new roads, and etc. But sometimes it may lead to the negative environmental, and social impacts. Therefore, the mining activities should be carefully monitored for the concept of sustainable development. In this paper, a fuzzy Best-Worst Method based approach is developed for the evaluation of an iron mine. The case study, Sangan iron ore mine is one of the biggest mines, located in a rural area in the north eastern of Iran. Three factors including the economic, environmental, and social parameters were considered as main sustainable development criteria. The sub-criteria for each mentioned factor were then extracted from the literature as well as knowledge expert’s opinions. In the proposed approach, each sub-criterion was carefully weighted using the fuzzy Best-Worst method and scored by 12 experts. Afterwards, the sustainability score was defined as the summation of final fuzzy scores which was gone under a defuzzification process. The performance evaluation was calculated using this sustainability score resulted to a score of 0.626 out of 1, indicating its acceptable performance. The results showed that the mine performs well in terms of the economic benefits, rate of return, exploration capacity, and stockholders’ rights, but in the environmental management systems, water discharge, recreation and tourism aspects, it does not play well. The results of the implementation of the proposed approach showed the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach that is confirmed by experts.
METADATA IN OTHER LANGUAGES:
Polish
Podejście oparte na metodzie rozmytej Best-Worst dla zrównoważonej oceny przemysłu wydobywczego
zrównoważony rozwój, górnictwo, BWM, teoria zbiorów rozmytych
Kopalnie odgrywają ważną rolę we wzroście gospodarczym krajów, ponieważ są dostawcami dla wielu branż. Oprócz wzrostu gospodarczego kopalnie pozytywnie wpływają na czynniki rozwoju społecznego, takie jak tworzenie miejsc pracy, rozwój obszarów wiejskich, budowa nowych dróg itp. Ale czasami może to mieć negatywny wpływ na środowisko przyrodnicze i społeczeństwo. Dlatego działania górnicze powinny być uważnie monitorowane pod kątem koncepcji zrównoważonego rozwoju. W tym artykule zastosowano rozmyte podejście BWM (Best-Worst Method) do oceny kopalni żelaza. Studium przypadku, kopalnia rudy żelaza Sangan, jest jedną z największych kopalń zlokalizowanych na obszarach wiejskich w północno-wschodnim Iranie. Trzy główne czynniki, w tym parametry ekonomiczne, środowiskowe i społeczne, zostały uznane za główne kryteria zrównoważonego rozwoju. Podkryteria dla każdego z wymienionych czynników zostały następnie opracowane na podstawie literatury, a także podane przez ekspertów. W proponowanym podejściu każde podkryterium zostało starannie wyważone przy użyciu metody rozmytej BWM i ocenione przez 12 ekspertów. Następnie wynik zrównoważonego rozwoju został zdefiniowany jako suma końcowych wyników rozmytych, które przeszły proces rozmywania (fuzyfikacji). Ocena efektywności została obliczona przy zastosowaniu wyniku zrównoważonego rozwoju, co dało wynik 0,626 na 1, wskazując jego akceptowalną przydatność. Wyniki pokazały, że kopalnia działa dobrze pod względem korzyści ekonomicznych, stopy zwrotu kapitału, zdolności poszukiwawczej i praw akcjonariuszy, natomiast nie w systemach zarządzania środowiskiem przyrodniczym, zrzutach wody, rekreacji i turystyce. Wyniki wdrożenia proponowanego podejścia wykazały efektywność i skuteczność proponowanego podejścia, co potwierdzają eksperci.
 
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