Document Type : Case Study
Authors
1 Risk Management Office, Gohar-Zamin Mining and Industrial Company, Sirjan, Iran
2 Mining Engineering Department, Higher Education Complex of Zarand
3 Head of Risk Analysis and Review, Gohar-Zamin Mining and Industrial Company, Sirjan, Iran
Abstract
Effective management of operational risks in open-pit mines—particularly large-scale operations—remains fundamental to improving safety performance, mitigating production interruptions, and optimizing cost structures. This study presents a structured multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework to identify, evaluate, and prioritize operational risks in the Gohar-Zamin iron ore mine. Potential risks were initially identified through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Expert consensus was subsequently achieved via the Delphi method, leading to the selection of 24 critical risk factors. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to derive the relative weights of seven risk evaluation criteria—safety, cost, schedule, quality, social impact, historical occurrence, and probability. Results highlighted safety as the most influential criterion, followed by cost and probability of occurrence. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was then applied to rank the risks. The five highest-priority risks were determined to be: (1) fuel supply disruption, (2) contractor strikes, (3) power supply failure within the pit, (4) adverse weather conditions, and (5) pit wall failure. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the ranking structure remained robust under varying weighting scenarios. Finally, targeted managerial and operational measures were proposed to mitigate the most impactful risks. The integrated framework developed herein offers a transferable model for comprehensive operational risk assessment across other mining operations nationwide.
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