Abstract:
Delays are frequently encountered on a daily basis in open pit shovel-truck operations. A greater
portion of these delays which are avoidable or reducible to the barest minimum if well managed
can significantly reduce shovel-truck cycle times and increase utilisation. The traditional
approach to analyzing delay data is by frequency plots categorized by type of delay and does not
present the data in a format which facilitates management of the delays. This paper uses log
dispersion plotting approach to analyse delay data from open pit shovel truck operations at
Goldfields Ghana Ltd., Tarkwa Mine. Delay types were categorised into delay codes to
determine which ones were acute, chronic or a combination of both. The delay codes which were
critical to the reduction of delays and improvement of shovel-truck utilization were prioritised.