Evaluating the impacts of the transition from open-pit to underground mining on sustainable development indexes

Abstract Sustainable development is about creating a balance between development and environment, and it consists of three essential principles: environment, society, and economy. Today, one of the most important challenges in deep open pit mines is the transition from open pit to underground, which has positive and negative impacts on sustainable development indexes. In order to reduce these adverse impacts, the impact of various parts of the transition operation on these indexes should be evaluated and corrective and preventive measures should be implemented. In this study, using a hybrid semi-quantitative approach, the effects of the transition in the Songun copper mine were evaluated. The obtained results showed that the transition in Songun copper mine has the greatest impact on the economic index of sustainable development with a value of 67.72 percent. In addition, the amount of impact of transition in this mine on environmental and social index is 41.74 and 39.84% respectively. In the meantime, the most significant impact was determined on components such as production rate and productivity, mine life, operation and capital cost, mineral value and income per ton of ore, mine closure (and reclamation) cost, Initial investment rate of returns, post–mining land use type.