Game manual seems to have a number of things to say on this:
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Originally Posted by Game manual
1] A "mine" is not "1 mine" but a random small number of mines. It is a symbol for a mined area and may be 2 mines or it may be 8 mines. ( or 3 or 5.....) If there are more than one "mine" symbols then there are PROBABLY more "mines" in that hex but if the random number generated hit's low for a three symbol cluster that hex MAY ONLY have three mines in it and if it hits high a 1 symbol mined area may have 8 mines. Those random numbers are there to eliminate the certainty of mine clearing.
2] Regular infantry squads will only clear mines if they are IN the minefield. Engineer units ( including mine clearing tanks ) will also clear mines from "outside" the field, if pointed at (facing) that hex.
3] Engineer infantry and vehicles clear mines faster than regular infantry. Because there are random numbers of mines and random numbers generated for mine clearing itself it is not possible to say definitively that "engineers clear mines 3x faster than infantry" because there are many factors built into the game to REMOVE the certainty that X action will take Y amount of time. If the unit removing mines moves that turn it can reduce the number of mines that can be removed on THAT turn. If they fire it slows down mine clearing. If they are fired on it slows down ( or halts altogether ) mine clearing. However, all things being equal the engineer type units WILL clear a given number of mines faster than a regular infantry unit.
4] Regular infantry, because they ONLY ( slowly ) clear mines from the hex they are in, can face in any direction while they do it. Engineer and mine clearing vehicles MUST face toward the hex they are the clearing mines from, if clearing from the hex alongside. If you face them away from a mined area or obstacle they will NOT clear it.
5] If there is a message ...... "XXX CLEARS 2 MINES " then 2 of the random number of mines in that mined area have been removed. When the message reads "XXX CLEARS A PATH THROUGH THE MINES" means all mines in that hex have been removed.
6] Experience plays a very important part in how fast a unit will clear a mined area. In one experiment, 4 engineer units with 30 experience and 4 engineer units with 120 experience were each placed in front of a mined hex. The expert units cleared their mined areas in 1-2 turns. The 4 green engineers took 7-9 turns to clear all four of their mined areas.
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So essentially, time taken to clear a minefield varies. If you really need to clear it fast, then I would recommend concentrating multiple units to clear a single hex, rather than every engineer in the hex clearing a different hex. Presumably dedicated mineclearing tanks are a bit more effective than more generic engineer tanks in mineclearing.
BTW: notice that not all the mines are of the type you need to step on - there are also mines and booby traps that are triggered by an unlucky grunt walking into a tripwire.
Griefbringer