AI exposure: Continuous Mining Machine Operators
Operate self-propelled mining machines that rip coal, metal and nonmetal ores, rock, stone, or sand from the mine face and load it onto conveyors, shuttle cars, or trucks in a continuous operation.
Reading this score
computedContinuous Mining Machine Operators is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 7.4% of weighted task load, rank 840 of 923. 81.0% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 15 tasks it averages 2.70 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Determine locations, boundaries, and depths of holes or channels to be cut, at 30.0%. The least is Guide and assist crews laying track and resetting supports and blocking, at 0.0%. A gap of 30.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within construction and extraction occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 61 roles in the group is 5.0%, and only 19 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 15 tasks, 0 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 13 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.73 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.70 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.90 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.27 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.47 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.90 | 0-3 |
Task by task
15 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Determine locations, boundaries, and depths of holes or channels to be cut. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.43 | assisted |
| Apply new technologies developed to minimize the environmental impact of coal mining. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.77 | assisted |
| Operate mining machines to gather coal and convey it to floors or shuttle cars. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.57 | untouched |
| Drive machines into position at working faces. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Move controls to start and regulate movement of conveyors and to start and position drill cutters or torches. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.49 | untouched |
| Conduct methane gas checks to ensure breathing quality of air. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.74 | untouched |
| Check the stability of roof and rib support systems before mining face areas. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Observe and listen to equipment operation to detect binding or stoppage of tools or other equipment malfunctions. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Hang ventilation tubing and ventilation curtains to ensure that the mining face area is kept properly ventilated. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.77 | untouched |
| Reposition machines to make additional holes or cuts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Repair, oil, and adjust machines, and change cutting teeth, using wrenches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Install casings to prevent cave-ins. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Scrape or wash conveyors, using belt scrapers or belt washers, to minimize dust production. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Move levers to raise and lower hydraulic safety bars supporting roofs above machines until other workers complete framing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Guide and assist crews laying track and resetting supports and blocking. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.65 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.