Global multidisciplinary management, engineering, and development consultancy Hatch has been coming to the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) in Saudi Arabia for three years. But now a new generation of professionals is about to hatch.
Speaking to Mining.com.au on the sidelines of FMF26, Hatch Vice Chairman Joe Lombard speaks about what keeps bringing the 40-year mining veteran back to this event in Riyadh and what it means for a renowned company like Hatch to keep attending.
“Well, it’s a high concentration of high-quality, if I can say, clients for us. We have the CEOs of the clients that we have been working with, not only in Saudi, but globally that come here,” Lombard tells this news service.
“They’re very accessible, not only at the CEO level, but throughout the organisation. They normally bring strong delegations with them, and I feel they’re very accessible. It’s big, but it’s not overwhelming. And Hatch has been in the business for 70 years now, so we’ve got lots of clients that come with us for a long, long time and we meet them here.”
When asked how Hatch fits into the touted Saudi Vision 2030, Hatch’s Vice Chairman explains that the global firm is very much the type of organisation the Saudi Arabian Government will be tapping into in order to deliver the expertise to the burgeoning mining sector the Kingdom is trying to uncover.
“More so than ever. I’m extremely happy to say that if you’d listened to Bob Wilt, the CEO of Maaden’s presentation this morning (14 January), you would have picked up that he did mention we are their partner in the development of their $110 billion program,” Lombard adds.
“So that is an accumulation of hard work over 20 years and lots of hard work over one or two years in order for us to be in that position. We’re extremely proud of it and extremely proud that in a big way, we will be part of this nation-building exercise in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia together with our partner, Maaden.”
Hatching a younger plan
When asked about a common theme at FMF26 regarding the need to entice the younger generation to get involved in mining and to facilitate that through training programs and mentoring initiatives, Lombard notes Hatch’s “big journey is, even though we’ve been working in Saudi Arabia for a long time, our big journey is starting now, like effectively today”.
“Yes, we have lots of plans, and we will simulate what we do in other parts of the world. Hatch is a global organisation. We’ve got offices on all continents and we’re (focused on) mining,” Lombard tells Mining.com.au.
“Hatch is there on each and every continent. We like to build a relationship with universities and attract the best of the best through the work that we deliver and retain them, of course, but also work through word of mouth.
“And also engage in opportunities, engage even at high school level, programs like FIRST Robotics, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this. I’m personally a bit involved with that.”
For many years, Hatch has been a platinum plus sponsor of FIRST Robotics Canada, a program whose mission is to inspire young people to pursue studies and careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) primarily through robotics competitions for elementary and high school students.
In May 2021, Hatch was announced as the recipient of the FIRST Robotics Canada Partner of Excellence Award at its Digital Expo. This award recognises partners that have gone above and beyond with support financially, with mentorship, and with volunteerism.
FIRST, which stands for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition for Science and Technology’, is a registered charity and volunteer-run organisation with an exemplary track record of promoting science, technology, and engineering to the next generation, a topic also important to Hatch.
In addition to Hatch’s platinum plus sponsorship, the global firm sponsors 10 FIRST Robotics teams across Canada. Hatch has since expanded its support of the program to Australia where it now supports two teams and are looking to grow.
“Globally, in our organisation, it’s a program that encourages people to participate in STEM activities. That’s the core of it. And so that’s the one aspect,” Hatch’s Vice Chairman continues.
“So we continue to work through universities. That’s the breeding ground of our future engineers and future leaders. But the phenomenon that I also observe, we also always talk about Hatch as a family, is we have now third generation young professionals joining us. The grandad was here, the father was …
“But now we see the grandkids joining the organisation. And people, not myself, I have a little bit of a different path that I followed until I got to Hatch. But generally, people that start with Hatch, stay with Hatch. You can have multiple careers within the organisation.”
Lombard says Hatch embraces its employees’ visions as its own and partners with them to develop ideas that are “smarter, more efficient, and innovative”. Hatch’s global network of 10,000 professionals work on the world’s toughest challenges, with experience spanning over 150 countries around the world in the metals, energy, and infrastructure sectors, he adds.
Employee-owned and independent, Lombard says Hatch’s exceptional, diverse teams combine vast engineering and business knowledge, working in partnership with clients to develop market strategies, manage and optimise production, develop new ‘game-changing technologies’, and design and deliver complex capital projects.
“I think we make sure that they understand that we’re a highly differentiated company. We are different. We’re an employee-owned company. It separates us from the rest”
And how does Hatch retain people?
“We are different. We’re an employee-owned company. It separates us from the rest,” Lombard tells Mining.com.au on the sidelines of FMF26 in Riyadh.
“We appreciate technical skills, balanced technical skills. We don’t want robots. We want people with technical skills that can also communicate. We give people challenging and interesting work.
“Engineers are smart people, so if you don’t occupy them productively, they become bored and they leave, and we don’t want it. We don’t have that. We have a very good track record, I’m proud to say, of bringing people in. Our word of mouth is another strong factor that we use as a recruitment tool, if I may call it that.
“That’s one of the best ones as well. People are attracted to our organisation. We’re, as I said, not a public company, so we’re not too interested in being in the press all the time as our shareholders are our own people. They don’t need headlines to tell them how different we are.”
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Hatch & Mining.com.au
