Selection of suitable extraction method for Mahallat travertine mines using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Nowadays various methods such as wire saw, chain saw and water jet can be used to extract dimensional stones. These methods have some advantages and disadvantages in respect to different criterion such as technical, economical, geological, and environmental and etc. Therefore, choosing a suitable method in stone mine extraction to achieve more efficiency considering technical and environmental aspects is necessary. In this paper for selection suitable extraction method for travertine mines in Mahallat, analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Expert Choice software is used. For this purpose, eight criteria including geological aspect, environmental aspect, extraction time, cost, safety, cutting quality, application facility and performance method and three extraction alternative including wire saw, chain saw and water jet have been taken into account. Regarding to results of AHP analyze the chainsaw method with priority of 0.471 is the best mining extraction method for quarry mines in Mahallat. The results show that replacement of chainsaw method instead of usual method (wire saw) caused to improvement of technical, economical, geological and environmental conditions of travertine mines of Mahallat.