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Mines May Eliminate More Than Half Their Human Workers Within 10 Years (computerworld.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes ComputerWorld:
In the next decade, the mining industry may lose more than half of its jobs to automation, according to a new report... This industry is adopting self-driving trucks, automated loaders and automated drilling and tunnel-boring systems. It is also testing fully autonomous long-distance trains, which carry materials from the mine to a port...
A broader question is whether mining is a bellwether for other industries. There's no clear answer, but what Aaron Cosbey, a development economist and a report author, can say is this: "Where you can find robotic replacements for human labor you tend to do it." Cosbey estimates that automation will replace 40% to 80% of the workers at a mine...
Driverless technology can increase output up to 20%, while decreasing fuel consumption up to 15%, according to the article. "This will increase demand for people with IT skills who can set up and operate the automation systems -- but at far smaller numbers than the people automation displaces."
A broader question is whether mining is a bellwether for other industries. There's no clear answer, but what Aaron Cosbey, a development economist and a report author, can say is this: "Where you can find robotic replacements for human labor you tend to do it." Cosbey estimates that automation will replace 40% to 80% of the workers at a mine...
Driverless technology can increase output up to 20%, while decreasing fuel consumption up to 15%, according to the article. "This will increase demand for people with IT skills who can set up and operate the automation systems -- but at far smaller numbers than the people automation displaces."
The real question is, given that mines are natural resources why the *bleep* do we let so few people claim ownership of them?
We don't. If they're mining private land, they have to either own it or make a deal with the owner.
If it's public land, we make the mining company pay a (very, very, very, very, very, very, very cheap) lease to mine the land.
On this other hand, at least in this situation, the only words I can think of are "Good. It's about time."
Mining is dangerous work; mines collapse, get filled with dangerous gasses that kill people, and so on. Getting people out of those environments is a great step towards making the world a safer place. I'd imagine their pay will also go down, given that they were getting paid a premium because the job they were doing was dangerous, but that reduction in workers and pay is pretty much unavoidable. The only alternative would be to continue putting people in harm's way unnecessarily, which IMO would be irresponsible once alternatives exist.
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