Hossein Mombeini - Department of financial management, Dubai Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dubai, UAE
Abdolreza Yazdani-Chamzini - Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box ۱۴۱۱۵-۱۳۴, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Hossein Basiri - Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box ۱۴۱۱۵-۱۳۴, Tehran, Iran
Alaeddin Malek - Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box ۱۴۱۱۵-۱۳۴, Tehran, Iran;

The problem of loading system size selection has a substantial impact on the economy of a mining project on account of its high contribution to the total cost. This problem is a strategic issue that not only takes into account the factors pertaining to cost minimization; but also considers the factors related to benefit maximization. According to the inherent complexity imposed by mining projects, the uncertainty plays a key role in the process of formulation. The merit of using fuzzy logic is to face with the uncertainty resulted from less or lack of information. On the other hand, nonlinear programming is one of the most popular techniques in modeling the complex and nonlinear patterns. In this study, a nonlinear programming model based on fuzzy logic is developed to select the optimum size of shovel machine. The proposed model is applied for a real world case study to demonstrate the capability and effectiveness of the model. The results show that the proposed model can diminish the cost/benefit ratio by approximately 5 percent

Loading equipment selection, fuzzy logic, nonlinear programming, Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine