Selection of an optimal electric monorail loading technique in underground mining using analytic hierarchy process and Yager's technique

The electric monorail transport system has found wide application in decline development. However, the loading mechanism in this haulage system still possesses a great challenge to its overall optimal efficiency. It has been demonstrated that high loading time is the main pitfall to high advance rates in monorail application. In this paper, the analytic hierarchy process and Yager's multiple criteria decision making techniques were used to select the optimal loading mechanism in the electric monorail transport system among three loading alternatives, namely, electric loader, conventional load-haul-dump unit and pneumatic loading system. Results of the two methods show that the electric loading technique is the optimal monorail loading system for efficient decline development in narrow vein deposits. Additionally, sensitivity analyses under the two techniques show that the electric loader system is always selected as the optimal solution to ±40% changes in the weight of criteria. It was also deduced that the solution under both methods is most sensitive to changes in the weight of the loading rate criterion.