Technical Note - Knowledge-Based Decision Support System For Mining-Method Selection For Ore Deposits

The selection of a mining method for a mineral deposit is a complex decision problem. Human judgment, based on experience with mineral deposits and geologic conditions, remains the single most important input of the decision-making technique. If the use of artificial intelligence, in particular the developments in expert systems, is taken to its logical conclusion, the experience of the domain experts could be incorporated into a decision-support expert system. A knowledge-based decision support system for mining method selection for ore deposits has been designed whereby the domain knowledge is represented as production rules and organized in a semantic tree representation. This model is written in the PROLOG language. While the verification difficulties of expert systems models are recognized, an example of the model's decision on the mining method for a given ore body is presented and shown to be consistent with the decision made by human experts. In addition, plans, for further verification of the model are delineated.