Engineers and geoscientists at J. D. Mollard and Associates (2010) have extensive experience in analyzing earth processes and environments to identify landforms, earth materials, hazards and ground conditions for a variety of natural resource and infrastructure development sites. These include sites for hydro dams and reservoirs, coal-fired power plants, industrial minerals development (potash, sodium sulphate), base metal and precious metal mines (gold, diamonds), pulp mills, northern townsites and airstrips, solid and liquid waste disposal, First Nations reserves, national parks, hospitals and schools.  For more than 50 years, hundreds of sites have been studied, terrain mapped and evaluated across Canada.

These studies usually begin with 3D airphoto recognition and mapping of glacial, fluvial, lacustrine, marine, wind, gravity and bedrock landforms, and with the inferred kinds of earth materials in them and the geological processes and depositional environments that created them. Geologic, topographic and soil maps are obtained and interpreted to guide these studies. Sites are usually visited in the field to confirm and help characterize surface conditions, and to recommend follow-up geotechnical or other field investigations.

Dams and reservoirs stand out because of their often complex geological histories, physical environments and materials. Altogether, 52 proposed damsites have been mapped and analyzed from airphotos with most visited in the field by J.D. Mollard and Assoicates (2010) staff. Moreover, dams have been constructed at many of the studied sites and have been in operation for several decades. Most noteworthy among them are dam and reservoir sites along Canada's main river systems, including the Columbia, Fraser, Duncan and Iskut systems in British Columbia; the North and South Saskatchewan, Brazeau, Battle, Paddle, Peace, Athabasca, Oldman and Red Deer in Alberta; the North and South Saskatchewan, Churchill and Souris in Saskatchewan; the Churchill and Nelson systems in Manitoba; the Albany and three other large rivers in northern Ontario; the Wreck Cove Brook hydro system of connected lakes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; and the Lower Churchill River in Labrador and Newfoundland.

In terms of large numbers of sites that have been studied by our engineers and geoscientists, Saskatchewan First Nation reserves top the list. Most studies were made for aggregate location, housing and transportation infrastructure development on 67 reserves: 43 located in northern Saskatchewan and 24 in southern Saskatchewan. Other resource and infrastructure sites investigated also stand out, although fewer in number. Some stand out because of their remote location, or because they were the first of their kind. Others stand out because of their unique terrain characteristics, physical environments, fascinating geology, beautiful settings, or a combination of them. Here are a few memorable projects, all beginning with office 3D airphoto terrain analysis:

• Locating a hospital site and an airstrip along with terrain mapping at Uranium City in northwestern Saskatchewan. Site location and terrain mapping was a challenge because of extensive rock outcrops, permafrost in peatland, lack of good topography and difficult mineral soil foundation material.
• Locating a school site on the shore of Cumberland Sound on southeastern Baffin Island. Terrain controls included limited construction area available along a boulder-strewn shore, permafrost conditions that extend to great depth, and lack of granular material for construction.
• Locating and terrain mapping a townsite and related infrastructure for the new mining town of Faro in Central Yukon.
• Locating and terrain mapping a transportation infrastructure system at the proposed Jericho diamond mine site, Nunavut. Plus location of a STOL airstrip on a narrow kettled esker-delta containing large bodies of ice. Whether these ice bodies are permafrost ground ice or are large masses of remnant glacier ice still remains unknown.
• Mapping terrain for the proposed new townsite of Thompson, Manitoba. The area was characterized by difficult surface conditions owing to permafrost in peatlands and ground ice in extensive glacial Lake Agassiz varved silt and clay.
• Mapping surface geologic features and conditions for infrastructure layout at Inco's nickel mine site at Voissey Bay, Labrador. Plus terrain mapping of a nearby mainland site to re-settle Davis Inuit residents who were located on a nearshore island.
• Mapping the physical environments and proposed infrastructure sites for Gros Morne National Park, during the early park proposal stage. The study included mapping attractive landscape and waterscape features, dramatic physiographic settings, unique geologic attributes along a coastline characterized by steep-walled elongate lakes in raised fiords, interesting bedrock types and rare plant species.
• Mapping terrain qualities for a proposed Pacific Rim National Park, including a spectacular sandy shoreline and an adjoining tall forest stand along a beautiful section of Vancouver Island's west coast.
• Collecting and synthesizing baseline data as part of the Great Sand Hills Scientific Advisory Committee's regional environmental study, required to assess the Sand Hills area terrain sensitivity and economic geology resources (oil and gas, sodium sulphate), surface water and groundwater resources and sand and gravel aggregate sources.
• Detecting geologic, topographic and hydrographic surface feature evolution and change in the Peace-Athabasca Delta from remotely sensed interpretation of sequential airphoto and satellite images, geologic, topographic and hydrographic maps. Interpreted hydrographic maps date from 1884, airphotos date from 1927, and satellite images date from 1972.