Meet James Hatley

MBA, P. Eng., PMP
CEO

James Hatley founded a project development company, Hatley Engineering and Applied Technologies Inc., whose mission is to offer mining companies the ability to accelerate the development of projects through technological innovation, best practices in project management and governance.

“We create a team environment, bringing people with different backgrounds together to aggregate their strengths. We leverage diversity in experience and approach to project execution, the best project delivery method needs to be selected with care.”

James Hatley

CEO - Hatley Engineering and Applied Technologies Inc. 

Award-winning Entrepreneur & Founder with expertise in project management, governance, and mining & metals. 

James Hatley is a ground-breaking Professional Engineer, Project Management Professional, and Founder. He has an extensive background in project management governance for large capital projects and reviewing major safety incidences, trends, and corrective actions in the mining, oil & gas, and resource sectors. 

James is passionate about Forward-thinking, Accountability for delivering commitments, Integrity, and Respect for all clients, employees, and stakeholders (FAIR). The pillars of his company are based on integrity, innovation, and integration. 

With more than 25 years of experience across metals & mining, oil & gas, and energy industries, James is currently the Founder of Hatley Engineering and Applied Technologies Inc. He founded a project development company with a mission to offer mining companies the ability to accelerate the development of projects through technological innovation, best practices in project management and governance.   

Prior to creating Hatley Engineering and Applied Technologies Inc., James was Senior Vice President of NexGen Energy Ltd. During his time with NexGen Energy Ltd, he lead a PFS study, NI43-101 Technical Report, substantially advanced a FS study and supported the EA, regulatory, permitting, and an exploration programs.  

Along with his professional career, James has regularly interfaced with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and has worked on special assignments for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna Austria. 

James currently serves on the Board of Directors as Vice-Chair for Elmwood Residences. A health care facility with 150 residents and 200 staff and he is responsible for developing a strategic plan in regard to COVID-19. He also served as Board Member of the Saskatchewan Mining Association for three terms. 

As an exemplary humanitarian, James was recognized by the national CIM Fellowship for 20 years of Technical Leadership Award and national CIM-Hatch Project Safety and Quality Award for a $200M substation, power distribution, and back-up generation project. 

He graduated with a Master of Business Administration in Energy from Athabasca University as well as a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan.  

 
 

“We have a holistic understanding of project development from the very beginnings of exploration, engineering, permitting, construction and commissioning to the successful operation of a number of mines and mills.”

 
 
HLE-2020-WEB-assets-01-34.jpg

“We are in an environment of global competition; our advantage is the successful implementation of new mining methods, applied technologies and project execution to leap a project ahead of the competition on the other side of the world.”

Experience

2020 - Present 

Founder & CEO - Hatley Engineering and Applied Technologies Inc 

  • James has been called to a leadership role in a multi-year, mega project of importance to Canada’s mining industry and global metal supply; he will remain on as CEO and founder.

  • Focused on building multi-generational mining projects

  • Successfully attracted Canadian and international clients 

 

2018 - 2020 

Senior Vice President, Project Development - NexGen Energy Ltd.  

  • Responsible for the estimated capital cost of $1.3B NI 43-101 technical report, forecasted to employ over 1,000 people during construction and over 500 people during operation 

  • Developed a process and systems from scratch which including quality, safety, and licensing programs with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as the lead regulator

2017 - 2018 

Consultant, Upstream Operational Compliance - Saudi Aramco  

  • Adjudicated major safety incidents for one of the world’s largest and most profitable companies, with more than 60,000 employees and net profits of $1B per day. 

  • Settled several difficult and confidential cases internally between the major business lines within Saudi Armco, with government officials and major Saudi utilities. 

 

2003 - 2017 

Program Director, Manager, Superintendent, and Chief Mine Engineer - Cameco Corporation  

  • Led working group on operations strategy, making project pipeline decisions 

  • Re-organized project team from EPCM to self-performing on a mega green-field program 

  • Managed submission of final EA and licensing documents to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and received permission to construct from the Saskatchewan government 

Read the latest articles from James

Featured
Lead Follow Get-Out-of-the-Way
Lead Follow Get-Out-of-the-Way

Lead, Follow, or Get-out-of-the-Way is a great phase that I learned from one of my business mentors. It so happens to apply to Special Olympic Floor Hockey and a ‘learning moment’ occurred for me while coaching my youngest son’s team.

Read More →
Where did it all start
Where did it all start

Where did the idea for Hatley Engineering start? It was born out of a great relationship with my father, mother and their friends who were teachers and instructors in various industrial trades

Read More →
Time Talent Treasure
Time Talent Treasure

I was reminded by a new friend, Stephanie of DCG Philanthropic Services, that when joining a board, one should give ready to give three things, their Time, Talent, and Treasure.

Read More →
 

Work With Us

 

We enjoy the thrill of seeing the project come to life - throughout the project there can be unexpected challenges and uncertainty and we are prepared for this and have the tenacity to see it through.