FUCOM-MOORA and FUCOM-MOOSRA: new MCDM-based knowledge-driven procedures for mineral potential mapping in greenfields

In this study, we present the application of two novel hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques in the mineral potential mapping (MPM), namely FUCOM-MOORA and FUCOM-MOOSRA, as robust computational frameworks for MPM. These were applied to a set of exploration targeting criteria of skarn. The multi-objective optimization method on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) and the multi-objective optimization on the basis of simple ratio analysis (MOOSRA) approaches are used to prioritize and rank individual cells. What makes MOORA and MOOSRA more reliable compared to many other methods is the fact that the optimizations procedure is applied to calculate the prospectivity score of individual unit cells. This reduces the uncertainty stemming from erroneous mathematical calculations. The full consistency method (FUCOM), on the other hand, is useful for assigning weights to the spatial proxies. The FUCOM method, as a pairwise comparison method, reduces a large number of pairwise comparisons of similar and popular approaches such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with $$n\left( {n - 1} \right)/2$$ n n - 1 / 2 and the best–worst method (BWM) with $$2n - 3$$ 2 n - 3 number of pairwise comparisons with $$n - 1$$ n - 1 which leads to a less time-consuming and more consistent performance compared with AHP and BWM. These were applied to a set of exploration targeting criteria of skarn iron deposits from Central Iran. Two potential maps were retrieved from the procedures applied, the comparison of which using correct classification rates and field checks revealed the superiority of FUCOM-MOOSRA over the FUCOM-MOORA.