Production planning of an open-pit mine is a procedure during which the rock blocks are assigned to different production periods in a way that leads to the highest net present value (NPV) subject to some operational and technical constraints. This process becomes much more complicated by incorporation of the UNCERTAINTY existing in the input parameters. The COMMODITY PRICE UNCERTAINTY is among the most significant factors, whose effects cannot be mitigated through further exploration or investigation. The present work introduced a new approach for integration of the COMMODITY PRICE UNCERTAINTY into long-term production planning of open-pit mines. The procedure involves solving the problem by the integer programming method based on a series of economic block models that are realized based on the sampled PRICEs from COMMODITY PRICE distribution function using the median Latin hypercube sampling method. The results obtained showed that the new methodology is able to reduce the risks and the net present value of the new approach at a confidence level 80% more than the conventional methods.

Regulation is one of the important socioeconomic tasks of governments. Regulation literature focuses on government intervention in the markets and determination of structure and the rules governing it in order to regulate the production and distribution of commodities. The COMMODITY exchange is one of the leading regulatory bodies, which conventionally results in regulating commodities market by providing a convenient, transparent, and observable trading system. The advantage of commodities exchange is the presence of regulatory and supervisory bodies by which all producers, consumers, and traders enjoy the benefits of COMMODITY regulation, but the institutional barriers to competitiveness can, however, prevent the regulation from being effective on PRICEs. This study aims to test the effects of regulating the listed commodities in Iran Mercantile Exchange on COMMODITY PRICE fluctuations. To this end, PRICE movements of 20 commodities traded on Iran Mercantile Exchange are compared with 20 ones not listed in Iran Mercantile Exchange using their coefficient of variation (CV) and Propensity Score Matching method. According to the results, the supply of commodities on the Iran Mercantile Exchange has led to an increase in their PRICE fluctuations compared to similar off-exchange ones. In other words, trading commodities on Iran Mercantile Exchange has not prevented PRICE fluctuations because the institutional barriers to competitiveness affect regulatory facilitation and cause its ineffectiveness.

The UNCERTAINTY-based mine evaluation and optimization have been regarded as a critical issue. However, it has received less attention in the underground mines than in the open-pit mines due to the diversity of the underground mining methods, and the underground mining parameters' complexity. The grade and COMMODITY PRICE uncertainties play essential roles in mining projects. Mine planning by not incorporating these uncertainties is accompanied by risks. The evaluation and risk assessment of the mine plans is possible through evaluating the mineable reserve in the presence of such uncertainties. In the present work, we evaluate the effects of grade and COMMODITY PRICE uncertainties on the underground mining stope optimization and the resultant mineable reserve. In this regard, the stope boundary is studied both deterministically and stochastically in the presence of the grade and PRICE uncertainties. For this purpose, in this work, we implement the conditional simulation in order to generate equally probable ore reserve models. Furthermore, we optimize the stope boundary using the floating-stope algorithm in each realization. Several decision support criteria including the 'mineable reserve, ' 'metal-content, ' 'profit, ' and 'value-at-risk' are defined to assist the decision-maker in uncertain conditions. Finally, a procedure is defined in order to consider two types of UNCERTAINTY sources simultaneously in underground mining. It will guide the decision-maker toward the most appropriate stope boundary that best fits the mining company's requirements. The procedure is implemented in a bauxite mine, and the optimal stope boundary is determined concerning the different criteria.

This paper evaluates the welfare effects of PRICE changes in the main COMMODITY groups in Iran. Using the Iranian urban households' data issued by the Iranian Statistics Center over the period 1994-2007 we estimate the subsistence level. In addition, using the results from the linear expenditure system we calculate the PRICE and income elasticities along with the compensation and equivalent variations for the Iranian urban households.Results show that the subsistence level for the Iranian household in year 2007 was 39141117 Rials. Furthermore, calculated compensation and equivalent variations show that the PRICE changes had caused the maximum welfare decline in the Food and Housing groups.

In this paper, a new revenue efficiency data envelopment analysis (RE-DEA) approach is considered for finding the most revenue efficient unit with PRICE UNCERTAINTY in both optimistic and pessimistic perspectives. The optimistic and pessimistic perspectives use efficient frontier and inefficient frontier, respectively. An integrated model is introduced to find decision making units (DMUs) that can be a candidate for most revenue efficient unit, in both optimistic and pessimistic points. Consequently, the revenue efficiency of all DMUs is calculated with by solving one model. Then a mix integer programming (MIP) model is proposed for finding the most revenue efficient DMU with common set of weights. The proposed model ensures that just one unit has been revenue efficiency. To illustrate the applicability of the new approach, the model is utilized for data from 21 medical centers in Taiwan.

the relationship between the PRICE of oil and the level of economic activity is a fundamental empirical issue in macroeconomics. In this research, by using a multivariate GARCH-in-Mean VAR, we try to investigate direct effects of UNCERTAINTY of oil PRICE on macroeconomics of Iran by using annually data from 1965 to 2013. Results show that UNCERTAINTY about oil PRICEs had a negative and significant effect on real output in our sample.