Hatch Ltd
Encyclopedia
Hatch is a global multidisciplinary management, engineering and development consultancy. Its group companies have more than 10,000 staff in 65 offices on six continents.
The company was founded in Toronto
, Canada
, by W.S. Atkins as W.S. Atkins & Associates in 1955. The company initially was involved in subway tunneling
and other civil engineering
projects, and expanded into metallurgy
when Gerry Hatch joined the company in January, 1958. It became known as Hatch in 1962.
Hatch counts among its metals clients the top 20 (as measured by market capitalization
) mining and metals companies in the world, including Alcan
, Alcoa
, BHP Billiton
, Barrick Gold
, BlueScope Steel
, Xstrata
(formerly Falconbridge
), Vale (formerly Inco) and Rio Tinto
.
In 1996 the company began an expansion program by purchasing several aligned engineering companies including Billiton Engineering (1996), Rescan Mining (1998), BHP Engineering (1999), Kaiser Engineers (2000) and Acres International (2004).
Hatch today provides consulting, operations support, technologies, process design, and project and construction management to clients in three principal sectors: mining
and metal
s; energy
; and infrastructure
.
The company's main offices are in the following countries: Australia, Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Chile, Brazil, Peru and China. They also have various smaller offices around the globe.
The company was founded in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, by W.S. Atkins as W.S. Atkins & Associates in 1955. The company initially was involved in subway tunneling
Tunneling
Tunneling may refer to:* Digging tunnels * Quantum tunneling, the quantum-mechanical effect where a particle crosses through a classically-forbidden potential energy barrier...
and other civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
projects, and expanded into metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
when Gerry Hatch joined the company in January, 1958. It became known as Hatch in 1962.
Hatch counts among its metals clients the top 20 (as measured by market capitalization
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
) mining and metals companies in the world, including Alcan
Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...
, Alcoa
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
, BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
, Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...
, BlueScope Steel
BlueScope Steel
BlueScope Steel is a flat product steel producer with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and North America. It was spun off from BHP Billiton in 2002 as BHP Steel and renamed BlueScope Steel on 17 November 2003...
, Xstrata
Xstrata
Xstrata plc is a global mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is a major producer of coal , copper, nickel, primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest producer of ferrochrome...
(formerly Falconbridge
Falconbridge Ltd.
Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum. It was listed on the TSX and NYSE , and had...
), Vale (formerly Inco) and Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto Group
The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...
.
In 1996 the company began an expansion program by purchasing several aligned engineering companies including Billiton Engineering (1996), Rescan Mining (1998), BHP Engineering (1999), Kaiser Engineers (2000) and Acres International (2004).
Hatch today provides consulting, operations support, technologies, process design, and project and construction management to clients in three principal sectors: mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s; energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
; and infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
.
The company's main offices are in the following countries: Australia, Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Chile, Brazil, Peru and China. They also have various smaller offices around the globe.
Main business areas
- Non-ferrous (base) metals – nickelNickelNickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
, copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, zincZincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
, goldGoldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, platinumPlatinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal... - Light metals – aluminum and magnesiumMagnesiumMagnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
- Iron & Steel – iron making, steel making, rolling and finishing
- Industrial minerals – titania slag, coalCoalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, diamonds - Mining & Mineral Processing – planning, design and maintenance consulting
- Energy – hydroelectric power, wind power, alternative energies (ocean, solar, geothermal, etc.), nuclear powerNuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, thermal power, oilOilAn oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and gasGasGas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
, and electricity transmission and distribution - Infrastructure – public: light-rail transit; water; private: power, water, industrial rail, ports
- Technologies – custom designed equipment and technology including autoclave for extractive metallurgyExtractive metallurgyExtractive metallurgy is the study of the processes used in the separation and concentration of raw materials. The field is an applied science, covering all aspects of the physical and chemical processes used to produce mineral-containing and metallic materials, sometimes for direct use as a...
, coilbox for steel rolling, electric furnaceElectric furnace- Music :* Electric Furnace , a Welsh heavy metal band.An electric furnace may also be any of the following type of heat producing equipment using electric power:* A central heating plant for a home or building...
, fluidized bedFluidized bedA fluidized bed is formed when a quantity of a solid particulate substance is placed under appropriate conditions to cause the solid/fluid mixture to behave as a fluid. This is usually achieved by the introduction of pressurized fluid through the particulate medium...
, non-destructive testing - Oil Shale Processing