SAATY'S METHOD AS A TOOL USED TO DETERMINE THE IMPORTANCE OF IRON ORE EVALUATION CRITERIA

The quality of ore raw materials significantly affects the technological aspects of the blast furnace process. The comparison of iron ores is complicated because of the wide range of parameters which can be used to evaluate the ores. In terms of categories, they may include physical, chemical, mechanical, and other properties. From a general point of view, current methodologies evaluating the quality of ore raw materials can be divided into two groups of methods. The first one tries to simulate the conditions which ore is exposed to when going down the stack. Another approach is based on single-purpose tests, designed to determine a selected indicator of metallurgical quality. Both of these approaches allow you to acquire a number of key information about the quality of ore raw materials and about the course of the blast furnace process. The application of these methods, however, does not provide complex information offering a global view of the total value of ore raw materials. The key factor of this process is to determine the weights of the individual criteria according to which the ore is evaluated. The determination of the weights is very inaccurate, provided that it is performed solely on the basis of an intuitive assessment of the importance of the criteria. An exact evaluation of the importance requires a utilization of some of the mathematical instruments. This article analyzes the use of Saaty's Method when determining the importance of the individual criteria used in the evaluation of the quality of iron ores.