Big Dog Mining

Shovel & Loader Productivity

Bank tonnes per hour and cost per tonne. Pick the material you are digging and density, swell, bucket fill and digging class fill themselves from published tables. Every number shows its working and its source.

Step 1: What are you digging?

This one choice sets four values below. Override any of them if you have site data.

Material ?

Bank density auto ?

Weight of 1 m³ of material still in the ground.

Swell auto ?

1 m³ in the ground becomes this many m³ in the bucket.

Bucket fill factor auto ?

How full the bucket really gets. 1.00 = heaped rated capacity.

Digging class auto ?

Sets base cycle time. Harder digging = slower cycle.

Step 2: The machine and the bench

Defaults are a mid-size shovel on a well-set-up bench.

Rated bucket capacity ?

From the machine spec sheet. Heaped rating.

Swing angle ?

How far it slews from dig to dump. Spot the truck closer and this drops.

Bench height vs. ideal ?

Is the face tall enough to fill the bucket in one clean pass?

Job conditions ?

Floor, muck pile, room, weather.

Management ?

Operators, truck supply, delays, maintenance.

Owning & operating cost per hour (optional) ?$ / h

Depreciation, fuel, wear, operator. Gives you cost per tonne.

bank tonnes / hour

cycle time, seconds

cost / bank tonne

Step	Value	Where it comes from

Swing angle

What the hour actually buys

Material reference table: bank density, swell, fill factor and digging class

Material	Bank density (t/m³)	lb/yd³	Swell	Fill factor	Digging class

Atkinson 1992, via the SME Mining Engineering Handbook, Table 10.4-1 (p. 933). All 37 materials from the printed table are listed here: verified against the page. If your material is not in the list, pick the closest match by hardness and density, or enter your own values; each field can be overridden.

One limit worth knowing. The cycle-time table covers buckets from 3 to 35 m³ (4 to 45 yd³). Inside that range the calculator interpolates between published sizes. Outside it, the answer is extrapolated beyond what the source measured. It will still give you a number, but treat it as an indication rather than an estimate.

Spending more time on spreadsheets than on the job?

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Terms of use and disclaimer

Estimating aid only. This calculator is an educational tool. It is not an engineering design and it is not a substitute for the judgment of a competent or qualified person.

No warranty. It is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Equations and constants are cited to their published sources above, but transcription, implementation and the values you enter can all be wrong. Verify every result against the cited source and against your own site conditions before it informs a decision.

Not a statutory document. Nothing produced here is a ground control plan, ventilation plan, blast design, haul road design or hoist design. Those must be prepared, signed and approved under the regulations that apply to your operation. Compliance with MSHA, or with your own jurisdiction's mining regulations, is the operator's responsibility and remains so.

Assumption of risk. You use this tool entirely at your own risk. Mining is hazardous, and errors in ground support, ventilation, blasting or haulage can cause serious injury or death.

Limitation of liability. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Big Dog Mining and its owners, operators and contributors accept no liability for any loss, damage, injury, death, cost or claim, whether direct, indirect, incidental or consequential, arising out of or in connection with the use of this tool or reliance on its output.

Indemnity. By using this calculator you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Big Dog Mining and its owners, operators and contributors against any claim, demand, loss, liability or expense, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your use of it or from any decision taken in reliance on it.

If you do not accept these terms, do not use this calculator.