Determination of weights of contract mining decision factors using analytical hierarchy process method

The factors that affect decisions to outsource mining operations are mainly economic, operational factors and non-financial factors like environmental, social and governance issues. Operating and financial factors that influence contract mining need to be viewed holistically. This study tried to use analytical hierarchy process method to evaluate contract mining decision-making process and determine their relative importance in contract mining decisions. The results show that operational cost-based factors account for more than 55% of all the main criteria while competence-based factors are the least relevant with 3% in relative importance. Generally, quantitative criteria are more relevant than qualitative criteria as quantitative criteria can be more easily measured and monitored by decision makers than qualitative criteria. Finally, profit margin is more important than the other criteria and accounts for about 38% of the relative global weight while protecting core competence is the least important criterion with a relative weight of < 1%.