Shahrood University of Technology Journal of Mining and Environment 2251-8592 9 4 2018 10 01 A new classification system for evaluation and prediction of unplanned dilution in cut-and-fill stoping method 873 892 1158 10.22044/jme.2018.6483.1468 EN M. Mohseni Faculty of Mining, Petroleum & Geophysics Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran M. Ataei Faculty of Mining, Petroleum & Geophysics Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran R. Khaloo Kakaie Faculty of Mining, Petroleum & Geophysics Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran Journal Article 2017 12 02 Production planning in mineral exploitation should be undertaken to maximize exploited ore at a minimum unplanned dilution. Unplanned dilution reduction is among the ways to enhance the quality of products, and hence, reduce the associated costs, resulting in a higher profit. In this way, firstly, all the parameters contributing to unplanned dilution in underground stopes and specifically the cut-and-fill stoping method are identified. Secondly, the parameters are weighed using the fuzzy-Delphi analytical hierarchy process. Thirdly, the most effective parameters are selected among the pool of effective parameters. Finally, in order to present a novel classification system for an unplanned dilution assessment, a new index called stope unplanned dilution index (SUDI) is introduced. SUDI represents the extent to which a cut-and-fill stope is susceptible to unplanned dilution. That is, having the value of this index, one may classify the cut-and-fill stopes into five groups according to robustness versus unplanned dilution: very strong, strong, moderate, weak, and very weak. SUDI is applied to10 stopes in different parts of Venarch Manganese Mines (Qom, Iran). In this way, a semi-automatic cavity monitoring system is implemented in the stopes. The regression analysis method shows that there is a relationship between SUDI and the actual unplanned dilution in equivalent linear overbreak/slough with a correlation coefficient (R² = 0.8957). https://jme.shahroodut.ac.ir/article_1158_9f4929263bdb5e86658036861252945b.pdf