AI Resilience Report forLoading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining

If you're worried that a robot is about to take over the loader controls in an underground mine, here's the honest picture: the work is being augmented today more than it's being fully replaced. The clearest example comes from Greece, where Eldorado Gold reported that at its Skouries project, "Semi-autonomous ore loading and open stope drilling," with operators on surface, was successfully used during the mining of these two test stopes, and this technology enables a single operator to control several pieces of equipment simultaneously, increasing safety, drill accuracy and productivity, reducing idle time between shifts and during blast clearance, and decreasing associated costs. Underground loaders like the Sandvik LH517i now run cycles automatically using AutoMine Lite ^[1], and companies like Hitachi and Pronto recently teamed up on OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage ^[2] so mines can automate the trucks they already own.

National Mining Association coverage similarly highlights that Caterpillar's Cat 798 AC mining truck is configured for autonomous haulage ^[3]. The tasks with the lowest automation scores in your list — prying loose rock from the roof, replacing hoses, and hanging high-voltage cables — remain very human, because they need judgment, dexterity, and physical adaptability that today's AI can't match.

Adoption is moving, but slower than headlines suggest. A 2026 peer-reviewed study found that participants categorize major barriers to mining automation into regulation, economics, technology readiness, corporate willingness, and social license, and that economics, technology readiness, and regulation are the three most significant barriers to mining automation, contributing 37.9%, 17.4%, and 16.6%, respectively. On the "adopt faster" side, labor shortages are pushing mines toward automation: UPI reports that in Chile, the aging workforce coincides with the expansion of automation, remote operations and artificial intelligence, technologies that are reshaping the qualifications the mining industry requires, and that the traditional cost analysis that once justified maintaining large human work crews because of the high cost of Western robotics has become outdated following the emergence of Chinese robotics manufacturers.

McKinsey also sees technological breakthroughs creating tailwinds for productivity in mining ^[4]. The good news for young people: operators aren't disappearing — their jobs are shifting toward supervising machines from safer surface control rooms, troubleshooting equipment, and maintaining the electronics and hydraulics that keep automated loaders running. Building skills in remote operations, mechanical repair, and digital systems is the surest way to stay valuable as the mine of the future takes shape.