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Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · code 8111

Miners and quarriers

AI can write the shift report. Working a drill rig underground is still skilled, risky work.

Filling in shift records is mostly out of AI's reach. It barely touches the other eight tasks, including drilling, opening new shafts and putting in roof supports.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Miners and quarriers operate plant, machinery and hand tools to extract rocks, mineral ores and other deposits from underground and surface mines and quarries. Tasks include - (a) positioning, operating and monitoring the performance of a variety of underground and surface mining equipment including continuous mining, cutting and channelling plant; (b) setting up and operating drilling equipment in underground and surface mines and quarries; (c) operating machinery and using hand or power tools to remove loosened rock, ore, coal and other deposits; (d) preparing, fitting and installing supports in underground workings including rock bolts; (e) operating machinery to open new shafts, drives, air vents and rises; (f) operating auxiliary plant such as pumps to expel air, water and mud; (g) performing minor maintenance and repairs and lubricating and cleaning plant, machines and tools; (h) completing records detailing operations completed during shifts; (i) collecting mineral samples for laboratory analysis. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Bogger operator - Continuous miner operator - Dragline operator (mining) - Driller (mining) - Jumbo operator - Miner - Mining plant operator - Quarrier - Roof bolter (mining) Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Mining supervisor - 3121 - Blaster - 7542 - Shotfirer - 7542 - Driller (oil or gas well) - 8113 - Mining labourer - 9311 - Quarry labourer - 9311

  • dewatering technician
  • surface miner
  • underground heavy equipment operator
  • driller
  • underground miner

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

83 / 100

Strongly holds up against AI

Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

100 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 9 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 17.3 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 17.3 = 82.7.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 74 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Miners and quarriers 83

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Shift records and reports.
  • Monitoring equipment and conditions with sensors.
  • Planning drilling and extraction.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Operating heavy equipment underground.
  • Installing supports and keeping people safe.
  • Maintenance in harsh conditions.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Remote operation from control rooms.
  • Maintaining automated equipment.
  • Mining the minerals batteries need.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

24 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 50 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

74 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 50 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

74 How
hands-on
50 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 7 US jobs , so treat it as rough.

finger skill 44.3 · hand skill 49.5 · cramped spaces 57.2 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 46, against an average of 17. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 46

    Completing records detailing operations completed during shifts

    Low
  2. 16

    Operating machinery to open new shafts, drives, air vents and rises

    Very Low
  3. 15

    Collecting mineral samples for laboratory analysis.

    Very Low
  4. 14

    Positioning, operating and monitoring the performance of a variety of underground and surface mining equipment including continuous mining, cutting and channelling plant

    Very Low
  5. 14

    Operating auxiliary plant such as pumps to expel air, water and mud

    Very Low
  6. 14

    Performing minor maintenance and repairs and lubricating and cleaning plant, machines and tools

    Very Low
  7. 13

    Operating machinery and using hand or power tools to remove loosened rock, ore, coal and other deposits

    Very Low
  8. 13

    Setting up and operating drilling equipment in underground and surface mines and quarries

    Very Low
  9. 12

    Preparing, fitting and installing supports in underground workings including rock bolts

    Very Low

9 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
50
AI does it for you
24

Sidekick wins, by 26 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 7122

So, should miners and quarriers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

Not about AI software. The most exposed task is completing shift records, rated Low; operating equipment and installing supports rate Very Low. Mining is automating with remote and driverless equipment, which moves some work to control rooms.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 39 jobs in the “Plant and machine operators, and assemblers” family, averaging 80. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →