Spatial analysis and evaluation of a coal deposit by coupling AHP & GIS techniques

Nowadays, the evaluation of coal deposits becomes crucial, due to many uncontrollable factors, which affect the energy sector. A comparative evaluation of coal deposits is essential for their hierarchical classification regarding their sustainable exploitation, when compared to other coal deposits or competitive fuels, which may be used as alternative solutions for electricity generation. In this paper, a method for spatial analysis and evaluation of a lignite deposit is proposed, by creating four spatial key indicators via GIS analysis, which are then aggregated by applying a weighted linear combination. The analytical hierarchy process is applied to estimate the relative weights of the indicators, in order to perform a weighted cartographic overlay. Through the synthesis of the indicators, an overall, total spatial quality indicator is calculated. The weighted analysis was shown to be more effective compared to the unweighted one, because it can provide more reliable results regarding the exploitation of the examined lignite deposit. The implementation of GIS-based analytical hierarchy process in spatial analysis and evaluation of lignite deposits, in terms of sustainable exploitation, demonstrates that this method can be extensively applied for evaluating the economic potential of mineral deposits.