The article is devoted to the issue of the overburden excavators effective standard sizes substantiation in the conditions of the development of kaolin pits. The influence of the excavator standard dimensions on the total weight of the extraction and loading equipment in the pit at a given annual productivity of the pit was investigated. It has been proven that when the shovel capacity of a hydraulic excavator increases by 7 times from one to 7 m3, the total number of excavators in the conditions of the Rozivskyi kaolin pit decreases by 6.7 times from 20 to 3, and their total metal capacity decreases by 2.3 times from 760 to 348 t. The established dependences of the daily productivity of the equipment and the excavation work cost on the excavator shovel volume allow claiming that scheme where using 5 Volvo EC 750D excavators and 10 Volvo A45 dump trucks is the most effective. The worst performance for all types of costs is the technological scheme using 20 Volvo 350D excavators and 17 Volvo A45 dump trucks. When using 5 Volvo EC 750D excavators and 10 Volvo A45 dump trucks in the proposed scheme, the cost of excavation works up to 34.5 UAH/m3 and is minimal due to the lowest costs for depreciation and repair of equipment, as well as for fuel and lubricants.