The new alliance provides that both Acres and Hatch will continue operating
as separate companies, while drawing on our respective resources for cross-functional
projects.
The Hatch Group provides a full range of technology-driven engineering
services in the mining, minerals, metals, manufacturing, infrastructure
and energy sectors. The company is employee owned and, with the addition
of Acres, has more than 5,200 staff and 80 offices worldwide. With Acres
in the fold, Hatch can now provide its clients with power and energy solutions
previously outside its scope of expertise.
When the news was announced in June, I told shareholders that Acres expected
to gain tremendous strength and opportunity from the new relationship.
With Hatch’s complementary technological expertise and leadership
position, particularly in mining and infrastructure, many doors were predicted
to open.
After just two months, those expectations have already become reality
– and new business growth is clearly in motion. For example, 18 of
our Oakville electrical and mechanical engineers are currently involved
full-time at Hatch's head office on a variety of mining projects including
the Voisey's Bay pilot hydrometallurgical facility in Newfoundland, a
bauxite refinery in Guinea and a nickel smelting project in Brazil. We’ve
also gained two significant contracts for stormwater management work at
the Guinean and Brazilian sites. Additionally, Acres is participating
with Hatch in a bio-copper leaching facility expansion in Chile for which
we are studying heat recovery and power generation options.
Future prospects are also bright. We are in discussions with a Hatch client
regarding a hydropower feasibility study at a mining site in northern
Canada, and are pursuing a number of thermal power generation project
opportunities with long-standing clients of Hatch in Australia.
Further synergies are on the horizon. We are now actively exploring several
new opportunities for which Hatch will be able to utilize Acres experience,
and I look forward to sharing more detail with you in the near future.
As well, since the vast majority of Hatch’s worldwide mining and
metallurgical projects are large enough to require dedicated power supplies,
Acres will be at the forefront of these developments.
Beyond the acquisition of new contracts, Acres will broaden its technological
resources with Hatch’s extensive suite of specialized engineering
software. Similarly, our philosophy of continuous improvement in human
resources will be further supported by the extensive training opportunities
provided by the Hatch Corporate Learning Centre. And, overall, our companies
share similar visions of growth, quality and innovation.
This amalgamation is indeed big news for the engineering industry. For
Acres current clients, and those yet to come, the end result is a truly
unprecedented range of engineering know-how. And we are all very excited
about the road ahead.