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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers?
Task-level automation exposure for Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers: 18 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
55%
weighted task index
18 of 18 tasks scored
Median Salary
$106,220 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
6,080 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+3.8%
employment change
300 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 28 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$70,310 – $158,130
Highest medians
California $158,130
Oklahoma $131,660
Utah $125,520
Alaska $124,630
Idaho $123,680
Lowest medians
North Carolina $70,310
New York $82,200
Ohio $86,210
Pennsylvania $87,020
Minnesota $91,610
State figures come from the 17-2151 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 55%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 52%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 15%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 9/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
18 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 45%
8 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 44%
8 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 12%
2 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 05/2025 · AI/SME
Use drone technology for aerial surveys and inspections of mining sites to enhance safety and efficiency.
Constituent Tasks
#3569 · Core · 78% automatable
Prepare technical reports for use by mining, engineering, and management personnel.
text generation — Internal technical reports drafted; human reviews
Prepare technical reports for internal use.
#3561 · Core · 22% automatable
Inspect mining areas for unsafe structures, equipment, and working conditions.
visual inspection — Physical site verification against specs is human
Inspect facilities or sites to determine if they meet specifications or standards.
#3568 · Core · 50% automatable
Select or develop mineral location, extraction, and production methods, based on factors such as safety, cost, and deposit characteristics.
decision support — Operational methods aided; human decides
Determine operational methods.
#3562 · Core · 59% automatable
Select locations and plan underground or surface mining operations, specifying processes, labor usage, and equipment that will result in safe, economical, and environmentally sound extraction of minerals and ores.
text generation — Detailed work plans drafted from specifications
Determine operational methods. Select tools, equipment, or technologies for use in operations or projects. Prepare detailed work plans.
#3565 · Core · 73% automatable
Prepare schedules, reports, and estimates of the costs involved in developing and operating mines.
text generation — Generate operational reports from structured data
Estimate operational costs. Schedule operational activities. Prepare operational reports.
#3566 · Core · 60% automatable
Monitor mine production rates to assess operational effectiveness.
data analysis — Efficiency metrics are digital and analyzable by AI
Monitor the productivity or efficiency of industrial operations.
#18610 · Core · 35% automatable
Supervise, train, and evaluate technicians, technologists, survey personnel, engineers, scientists or other mine personnel.
interpersonal — Operational procedure training needs live demonstration
Train personnel on proper operational procedures. Supervise engineering or other technical personnel.
#3563 · Core · 80% automatable
Examine maps, deposits, drilling locations, or mines to determine the location, size, accessibility, contents, value, and potential profitability of mineral, oil, and gas deposits.
text generation — Review technical docs to plan work
Review technical documents to plan work.
#3567 · Core · 52% automatable
Design, implement, and monitor the development of mines, facilities, systems, or equipment.
data analysis — Efficiency metrics are digital and analyzable by AI
Monitor the productivity or efficiency of industrial operations. Design structures or facilities. Design industrial equipment.
#3571 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Test air to detect toxic gases and recommend measures to remove them, such as installation of ventilation shafts.
decision support — General safety advice; accountability and context human
Investigate safety of work environment. Advise others on health and safety issues.
#3570 · Supplemental · 62% automatable
Implement and coordinate mine safety programs, including the design and maintenance of protective and rescue equipment and safety devices.
decision support — Compliance coordination needs human accountability and site action
Coordinate safety or regulatory compliance activities.
#3574 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Devise solutions to problems of land reclamation and water and air pollution, such as methods of storing excavated soil and returning exhausted mine sites to natural states.
decision support — AI diagnoses; human executes operational fixes
Resolve operational performance problems.
#3575 · Supplemental · 18% automatable
Lay out, direct, and supervise mine construction operations, such as the construction of shafts and tunnels.
physical manipulation — Construction direction requires on-site presence and authority
Direct construction activities.
#3572 · Supplemental · 72% automatable
Design, develop, and implement computer applications for use in mining operations such as mine design, modeling, or mapping or for monitoring mine conditions.
text generation — Code generation strong; human architects and reviews
Develop software or computer applications.
#3573 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Select or devise materials-handling methods and equipment to transport ore, waste materials, and mineral products efficiently and economically.
text generation — AI drafts technical methods; expert validates feasibility
Determine operational methods. Select tools, equipment, or technologies for use in operations or projects. Develop technical methods or processes.
#3576 · Supplemental · 68% automatable
Evaluate data to develop new mining products, equipment, or processes.
data analysis — Analyzes design/requirements data; engineer owns judgment
Analyze design or requirements information for mechanical equipment or systems.
#3578 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Design mining and mineral treatment equipment and machinery in collaboration with other engineering specialists.
decision support — AI drafts equipment designs; engineer owns manufacturability
Design industrial equipment.
#3577 · Supplemental · 63% automatable
Conduct or direct mining experiments to test or prove research findings.
information retrieval — AI researches and synthesizes; human judges relevance
Research industrial processes or operations. Research topics in area of expertise. Conduct research to inform art, designs, or other work.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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