Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 10% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 64% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 29% of the time, stays with people.
Conduct subsurface surveys to identify the characteristics of potential land or mining development sites. May specify the ground support systems, processes, and equipment for safe, economical, and environmentally sound extraction or underground construction activities. May inspect areas for unsafe geological conditions, equipment, and working conditions. May design, implement, and coordinate mine safety programs.
6,080 people do this job in the US. $106,220 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on4 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet25 h
- Stays with people11 h
Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 4 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 25 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 11 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare technical reports for use by mining, engineering, and management personnel (about 1 h); Select or develop mineral location, extraction, and production methods, based on factors such as safety, cost, and deposit characteristics (under an hour); Prepare schedules, reports, and estimates of the costs involved in developing and operating mines (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 71%
- 1%
- 28%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 1%. Today's estimate: 10%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 18 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 12% of this job's working time as physical work. For 12% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 12% in a structured facility. 0.24 of 3, the 410th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 88%
- In a structured facility 12%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 6%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Design, develop, and implement computer applications for use in mining operations such as mine design, modeling, or mapping or for monitoring mine conditions.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 4.2 work days1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| 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.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 1.3 work weeks1.7 work days to 4.2 work weeks | 3%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Design, implement, and monitor the development of mines, facilities, systems, or equipment.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.2 work months | 1%Half by Jun 2028 | |
| Implement and coordinate mine safety programs, including the design and maintenance of protective and rescue equipment and safety devices.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Conduct or direct mining experiments to test or prove research findings.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 6% | 1 work week1 work day to 3.8 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Select or develop mineral location, extraction, and production methods, based on factors such as safety, cost, and deposit characteristics.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 1.4 work weeks | 26%Half by Apr 2027 | |
| Prepare technical reports for use by mining, engineering, and management personnel.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1 work day3.3 h to 2.8 work days | 66%Half by now | |
| Examine maps, deposits, drilling locations, or mines to determine the location, size, accessibility, contents, value, and potential profitability of mineral, oil, and gas deposits.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Prepare schedules, reports, and estimates of the costs involved in developing and operating mines.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.1 work days5 h to 1.3 work weeks | 23%Half by May 2027 | |
| Evaluate data to develop new mining products, equipment, or processes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 4.2 work days1 work day to 2.1 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| Inspect mining areas for unsafe structures, equipment, and working conditions.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, ANYmal (ANYbotics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 10% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 64% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (38% to 71% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare technical reports for use by mining, engineering, and management personnel (66% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Select or develop mineral location, extraction, and production methods, based on factors such as safety, cost, and deposit characteristics (26% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Prepare schedules, reports, and estimates of the costs involved in developing and operating mines (23% of the task's time now, 99% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Implement and coordinate mine safety programs, including the design and maintenance of protective and rescue equipment and safety devices; Conduct or direct mining experiments to test or prove research findings; and Examine maps, deposits, drilling locations, or mines to determine the location, size, accessibility, contents, value, and potential profitability of mineral, oil, and gas deposits. Together such tasks are about 29% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 12% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 12% of the working time, 12% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.24 of 3. One example: ANYmal for "inspect mining areas for unsafe structures, equipment, and working conditions". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 18 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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