Review of causal inference and modeling

Abstract

A cause and effect relationship is one of the universal constant realities and it can be observed in all aspects of life including physics, biology, medicine, psychology, engineering, management, law, statistics, economics etc. Fundamentally, everything happens for a reason in the universe. In more technical terms, an action, phenomenon, or condition is given rise by a “cause” and such cause can have different effects that can be traceable by establishing causal relationships. Causal inference is a comprehensive process of analyzing the causal relationship between a cause and effect by considering a change in the cause to draw conclusions about the alternative effects. Over the last few decades, many researchers have carried out studies on causal inference for different fields such as epidemiology, computer sciences, statistics and economics and social sciences, but no study has been conducted for the mining industry, yet. Causal relationships can be established for several different facets of the mining industry including exploration, development, production, mineral processing, etc. In this paper, a review of Causal Inference is given in general terms and a preliminary study is performed to understand the causal relationship behind molybdenum recovery by considering the influencing factors, the causes.