Application of Topsis method to the selection of a production drilling rig

Drilling and blasting are considered to be the first unit of operations in mining. proper rock fragmentation is the key first element of the ore winning process, as it affects the economics of processing. To ensure a proper fragmentation is achieved, a lot of factors are considered, one of them being the accuracy and efficiency of drilling. This makes drilling an important part of the rock fragmentation process, and the selection of a drill rig that will result in achieving desired production rate is thus an important decision for mining engineers. In this paper, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was applied to the selection of a Production Drill Rig. The methodology involved the application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in calculation of the weights of the criteria. Expert opinion was used in the formation of AHP pairwise matrices. TOPSIS method was then used to rank the alternatives and finally, the most appropriate drill rig was selected. It was shown that TOPSIS method can be applied in equipment selection as opposed to the traditional trial-and-error methods, which will result in speedy decision making.