Ventilation Engineer

Position Summary

• Hatch is seeking a Ventilation Engineer to join our mine ventilation team in our Greenstone office in Johannesburg South Africa. The successful candidate will be responsible for the design, analysis, optimization, and management of mine ventilation systems for underground mining projects across various commodities and geographies. This role involves working with concept studies through to detailed engineering and operational support.
• The Mining Ventilation Engineer will play a key role in ensuring compliance with applicable safety regulations, operational requirements, and industry best practices while supporting Hatch's commitment to positive change through technical excellence and innovation.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop mine ventilation designs for underground mining operations.
• Conduct and supervise ventilation network modelling and simulation studies using industry-standard software.
• Design and supervise design of primary and secondary ventilation systems, including fans, vent raises, regulators, doors, stoppings, and auxiliary ventilation infrastructure.
• Perform heat load assessments, refrigeration studies, cooling requirements analyses, and contaminant control evaluations.
• Complete ventilation and cooling studies for feasibility studies, pre-feasibility studies, feasibility studies, and detailed engineering projects.
• Prepare technical reports, design criteria, specifications, calculations, and ventilation management plans.
• Participate in site visits, audits, ventilation surveys, and data collection activities.
• Provide technical support during project execution, commissioning, and operational phases.
• Ensure designs comply with relevant mining regulations, client standards, and international best practices.
• Contribute to proposal development, business development activities, and technical presentations.
• Identify opportunities to improve system efficiency, energy consumption, safety, and sustainability outcomes.
• Mentor junior engineers and graduates.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Bachelor's Degree in Mining Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering or related Engineering discipline.
• Strong understanding of underground mining methods and ventilation requirements.
• Minimum 5 years of experience within underground mining operations or mining consulting environments.
• Skills in ventilation network analysis and mine ventilation system design.
• Excellent technical report writing and communication skills.

Preferred

• Professional registration or eligibility for registration with ECSA.
• Familiarity with mine ventilation sampling and testing equipment.
• Experience with conducting mine fan audits and underground network calibration surveys.
• Knowledge of refrigeration and cooling systems for underground mines.

Technical Skills

• Ventilation modeling in software such as Ventsim™
• Familiarity with Mine Planning Software (Deswik, Vulcan, or similar)
• Engineering design and calculation tools

Competencies

• Technical writing skills suitable for writing proposals, work plans, and project reports
• Understanding of common underground mining methods and corresponding ventilation methodologies