Mineral and stone processing plant operators
In the ILO's assessment few of the job's tasks can be done by generative AI, or the scores are too spread out to reach gradient 1 — generative AI does not meaningfully take over the core of the work.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
The AI analysis for this occupation is still being prepared — the background process covers a few occupations every day.
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Recording information about processing completed during shifts, such as quantities, types and dimensions of materials produced46
- Examining processed materials visually or with hands to ensure compliance with established standards and job specifications, and collecting samples for testing in laboratories30
- Observing meters, gauges and control panels, and adjusting valves and controls to ensure the safe and efficient operation of equipment, and detecting malfunctions, and assisting with plant and machinery maintenance and repair23
- Separating metal and mineral concentrates from ore and alluvial deposits by thickening, flotation, gravity separation, filtration, and or magnetic and electrostatic separation20
- Monitoring and maintaining the flow of unprocessed rocks, minerals and stones from conveyors into machines19
- Setting up and operating stationary plant and machinery which grind, crush, cut, saw and slice rocks, minerals and stones according to the specifications for the job16
- Operating washing, separating, leaching, precipitating, filtering, extracting and combining equipment to remove waste material and recover minerals16
- Combining mineral ores with solvents to facilitate further processing15
- Sorting, stacking and moving processed minerals and stone for packaging, further processing or shipping.13
- Positioning blocks and slabs of stone onto machines for sawing, cutting and further working11
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Recording information about processing completed during shifts, such as quantities, types and dimensions of materials produced(46)
- Examining processed materials visually or with hands to ensure compliance with established standards and job specifications, and collecting samples for testing in laboratories(30)
- Observing meters, gauges and control panels, and adjusting valves and controls to ensure the safe and efficient operation of equipment, and detecting malfunctions, and assisting with plant and machinery maintenance and repair(23)
- Separating metal and mineral concentrates from ore and alluvial deposits by thickening, flotation, gravity separation, filtration, and or magnetic and electrostatic separation(20)
- Monitoring and maintaining the flow of unprocessed rocks, minerals and stones from conveyors into machines(19)
- Setting up and operating stationary plant and machinery which grind, crush, cut, saw and slice rocks, minerals and stones according to the specifications for the job(16)
- Operating washing, separating, leaching, precipitating, filtering, extracting and combining equipment to remove waste material and recover minerals(16)
- Combining mineral ores with solvents to facilitate further processing(15)
- Sorting, stacking and moving processed minerals and stone for packaging, further processing or shipping.(13)
- Positioning blocks and slabs of stone onto machines for sawing, cutting and further working(11)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 21.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Recording information about processing completed during shifts, such as quantities, types and dimensions of materials produced
- • Examining processed materials visually or with hands to ensure compliance with established standards and job specifications, and collecting samples for testing in laboratories
- • Positioning blocks and slabs of stone onto machines for sawing, cutting and further working
- • Sorting, stacking and moving processed minerals and stone for packaging, further processing or shipping.
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Stationary plant and machine operators group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Stationary plant and machine operators |
|---|---|
| Bulgaria | 3.9% · 114 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.7% · 171 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 3.3% · 254 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 3.3% · 33 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 3.2% · 167 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 3.1% · 81 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 3.0% · 159 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 2.8% · 19 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 2.8% · 47 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.7% · 462 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.6% · 620 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 2.3% · 59 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 2.0% · 594 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 2.0% · 58 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 1.9% · 427 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 1.9% · 784 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 1.8% · 93 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 1.7% · 26 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 1.5% · 46 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 1.5% · 64 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 1.4% · 12 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 1.3% · 61 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.2% · 34 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 1.2% · 55 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 1.1% · 59 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.0% · 5 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 0.8% · 288 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 0.8% · 3 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 0.8% · 2 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 0.6% · 63 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Plant and machine operators and assemblers). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland3,902
- Denmark3,581
- Norway3,391
- Iceland3,272
- Ireland3,013
- Belgium3,003
- Luxembourg2,848
- Finland2,711
- Austria2,708
- Netherlands2,689
- Germany2,646
- Sweden2,578
- Italy2,397
- EU272,188
- Spain2,169
- France2,125
- Slovenia1,961
- Poland1,931
- Lithuania1,895
- Cyprus1,832
- Malta1,828
- Greece1,726
- Estonia1,653
- Romania1,652
- Hungary1,630
- Croatia1,623
- Czechia1,621
- Latvia1,590
- Slovakia1,571
- Portugal1,289
- Bulgaria1,106
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Stationary plant and machine operators group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?