Modeling the Lean Limitation Criteria as a key factor for making a decision about abandoned mines in Iran

摘要

The characteristic of future mining is an essential struggle of today's world which is formed of three divisions (lean mining,green mining and giant mining) with innate affiliation to each other.Because the mineral products are one of the major needs for today's living,we suppose to concentrate on lean mining as a new challenge to maximize mineral exploitation at the first blush and green mining to minimize environment damages which have been reported in abandoned mines at the second blush,giant mining will be realized by accretion of other division.This study attempts to disclose the importance of lean mining by defining the Lean Limitation Criteria (LLC) which is related to grade,thickness,and depth factors.The LLC level indicates the potential of activation or abandoning and reclaiming the mine site.Data collected from 2209 Iran's abandoned mines in order to achieve a Theoretical Index (TI) that reflects the legitimate probability for reactivation or reclamation of mine.Results of the modeling illustrate that LLC value for inactive mines is less than 2 and for active mines is more than 2.