# Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction > Sector (NAICS 21) — The Sector as a Whole The Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector comprises establishments that extract naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. The term "mining" is used in the broad sense to include quarrying, well operations, beneficiating (e.g., crushing, screening, washing, and flotation), and other preparation customarily performed at the mine site, or as a part of mining activity. The Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector distinguishes two basic activities: mine operation and mining support activities. Mine operation includes establishments operating mines, quarries, or oil and gas wells on their own account or for others on a contract or fee basis. Mining support activities include establishments that perform exploration (except geophysical surveying and mapping) on a contract or fee basis and/or other mining services on a contract or fee basis (except mine site preparation, construction, and transportation activities). Establishments in the Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector are grouped and classified according to the natural resource mined or to be mined. Industries include establishments that develop and/or operate the mine site, extract the natural resources, beneficiate (i.e., prepare) the mineral mined, or provide mining support activities. Beneficiation is the process whereby the extracted material is reduced to particles that can be separated into mineral and waste, the former suitable for further processing or direct use. The operations that take place in beneficiation are primarily mechanical, such as grinding, washing, magnetic separation, and centrifugal separation. In contrast, manufacturing operations primarily use chemical and electrochemical processes, such as electrolysis and distillation. However, some treatments, such as heat treatments, take place in both the beneficiation and the manufacturing (i.e., smelting/refining) stages. The range of preparation activities varies by mineral and the purity of any given ore deposit. While some minerals, such as petroleum and natural gas, require little or no preparation, others are washed and screened, while yet others, such as gold and silver, can be transformed into bullion before leaving the mine site. Mining, beneficiating, and manufacturing activities often occur in a single location. Separate receipts will be collected for these activities whenever possible. When receipts cannot be broken out between mining and manufacturing, establishments that mine or quarry nonmetallic minerals, and then beneficiate the nonmetallic minerals into more finished manufactured products are classified based on the primary activity of the establishment. A mine that manufactures a small amount of finished products will be classified in Sector 21, Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction. An establishment that mines whose primary output is a more finished manufactured product will be classified in Sector 31-33, Manufacturing. - **NAICS code:** 21 - **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/industries/21 - **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap, not jobs lost. Figures aggregate over the occupations employed in this industry, each traced to a named public dataset. ## Scale & pay - **Employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** 573,480 across 243 occupations. - **Typical annual wage (employment-weighted median):** $75,083. ## AI exposure - **AI task-overlap (employment-weighted across 208 occupations):** 14th percentile (Low) — Eloundou GPT-overlap + Felten AIOE; task overlap, not automation. ## Largest occupations - Roustabouts, Oil and Gas (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5071-00) — 40,090 employed; $47,640 - Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5013-00) — 39,640 employed; $57,450 - Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-3032-00) — 32,730 employed; $55,720 - First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-1011-00) — 32,560 employed; $89,990 - Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2073-00) — 26,430 employed; $57,840 - General and Operations Managers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-1021-00) — 22,210 employed; $137,820 - Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5022-00) — 20,530 employed; $53,520 - Industrial Machinery Mechanics (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-49-9041-00) — 18,570 employed; $64,230 - Wellhead Pumpers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-7073-00) — 16,730 employed; $70,010 - Continuous Mining Machine Operators (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5041-00) — 13,530 employed; $64,690 - Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5012-00) — 12,220 employed; $65,210 - Construction Laborers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2061-00) — 11,010 employed; $43,640 - Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-49-3042-00) — 10,940 employed; $69,560 - Petroleum Engineers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-17-2171-00) — 10,780 employed; $149,990 - Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-5011-00) — 10,560 employed; $62,400 - Office Clerks, General (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-43-9061-00) — 8,970 employed; $46,380 - Accountants and Auditors (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-13-2011-00) — 7,570 employed; $96,730 - Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-7062-00) — 7,500 employed; $44,780 - First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-49-1011-00) — 6,890 employed; $104,840 - Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (https://singulariki.com/roles/role-43-3031-00) — 6,460 employed; $49,670 ## Sources - **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **Census NAICS** (2022) — U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/naics/ - **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index - **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130 - **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE --- _Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-03T03:26:54.804143+00:00. https://singulariki.com/industries/21_