Mining Vehicle & Underground Equipment worked example

Underground Duty Cycle at 7.2% tramming, queuing and delay allowance: a worked example

This worked example runs the underground duty cycle numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 7.2% tramming, queuing and delay allowance instead of the typical 10%. Estimate underground duty cycle for mining vehicle and underground equipment using production-ready inputs so teams can plan labor hours, schedule the work, or check whether the job fits the available shift time.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Loads or trips to move underground: 120 units (held at the documented default)
  • Trips completed per minute at the face: 12 units / min (held at the documented default)
  • Tramming, queuing and delay allowance: 7.2 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 10)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Base underground duty cycle time = underground duty cycle workload รท underground duty cycle completion rate.
  • Required underground duty cycle time works out to 10.72 hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Base underground duty cycle time works out to 10 hr at these inputs.
  • Underground duty cycle allowance applied works out to 7.2 % at these inputs.
  • Underground duty cycle completion rate works out to 12 pieces / min at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where tramming, queuing and delay allowance sits at 10% and the headline result is 11 hr, this scenario comes in 2.55% below the baseline at 10.72 hr.
  • Use it when planning a shift's haulage, sizing a fleet to a production target, or sanity-checking whether a heading clears within available hours. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Required underground duty cycle time: 10.72 hr (headline result)
  • Base underground duty cycle time: 10 hr
  • Underground duty cycle allowance applied: 7.2 %
  • Underground duty cycle completion rate: 12 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Underground Duty Cycle calculator, set tramming, queuing and delay allowance to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.