The development prospects of the mining industry are closely related to the state and development of modern mining machinery and equipment that meet the technical and quality requirements of mining enterprises. Enterprises are focused on a quantitative assessment – the volume of mineral extraction, depending on the functioning efficiency of a promising series of mining machines, which include modern mining excavators. Downtime and unplanned shutdowns of mining excavators directly depend on the operating conditions of the mining machine, which has negative influence on the machine as a whole and its technical condition, which entails a decrease in the efficiency of using expensive mining equipment and economic losses of the mining enterprise. The rationale for external factors that affect the operating time and technical condition of mining excavators is given. For a more detailed assessment of the influence of external influences on the efficiency of operation of mining machines, the influencing factors are divided into two groups: ergatic, directly related to human participation, and factors of a natural-technogenic nature, where human participation is minimized. It was revealed that factors of a natural-technogenic nature have the greatest influence. An algorithm is proposed for a comprehensive assessment of the technical condition and forecasting of operating time both in nominal and in real operating conditions, taking into account factors of a natural and technogenic nature. It is proposed, based on the developed program for planning and evaluating the life of a mining excavator, to adjust the schedules for maintenance and repair (MOT and R) in order to minimize the number of unplanned downtime of a mining excavator and maintain it in good condition. © 2020, Saint-Petersburg Mining University. All rights reserved.