Employing the fuzzy TOPSIS method to prioritize the rehabilitation of mines with according to natural and cultural factors (case study: Northeastern of Sarbisheh bentonite mine, south east of Birjand)

Mining restoration operations follow the goals including reduction of the hazards from mining operations, restoring affected lands and consumed water resources, reducing the impacts raised from mining operations, ensuring environmental resources conservation, stabilizing the socioeconomic environment of the area after mining activities, and creating new mining opportunities. This paper aims to provide an appropriate recommendation for the reconstruction of Sarbisheh bentonite mine considering natural and cultural criteria using fuzzy TOPSIS linguistic variables. The mine under study is located 50 km southeast of Birjand and 15 km northeast of Sarbisheh. Recently, different scenarios have been proposed for the refurbishment of the mining area among which are the forestry and wildlife, tourist attractions, agriculture, housing, educational, commercial and industrial establishments. Criteria like topography, slope, elevation, drainage, descents, rock coverage, agricultural and engineering are considered as natural criteria and location, accessibility, site size and shape, conditions of the mine, ownership, type, and intensity of use, behavior of indigenous peoples, regulatory constraints, and the way corporations use them are considered as the cultural criteria for evaluating mining reconstruction scenarios. This study aims at selecting the best mine reconstruction method by considering all effective criteria and comments from mining experts regarding the parameters’ weight and the performance of each parameter against each criterion and also with the purpose of environmental protection. Based on the fuzzy TOPSIS method and considering the natural and cultural criteria, first agriculture and then tourist attraction were suggested as the preferred alternatives for the reconstruction of this mine.