How to make a drill-results map investors understand.

One message per map

Decide the single thing the map has to show — a new high-grade intercept, a step-out, continuity along strike, a new zone — and take out everything that doesn’t support it. A map that tries to show the whole property in every release shows nothing in particular.

Plan first, then section

A plan map shows where you drilled; a section shows what you hit. For headline intercepts, pair them: the plan locates the hole among earlier drilling, and the section shows the interval’s position, geometry, and how it connects to what came before.

Show grade honestly

Draw at true scale, keep the same grade bins and colours from release to release, and label intervals the way your Qualified Person specifies — core length or estimated true width. Investors who compare releases will notice if the colour for “high grade” quietly changes.

Give a scale anchor

A scale bar and north arrow, plus one reference a non-geologist recognizes — the property boundary, a road, a nearby deposit or past producer. Without it, a 40-metre intercept and a 400-metre trend look the same size.

Keep the base locked

Use the same base map, symbols, and layout every release. Readers then spend their attention on what’s new rather than re-learning the map, and a run of releases reads as one advancing story. It also makes each new map faster to produce.

Make it survive a phone

Check the figure at phone width before release. Hole labels, intercept callouts, and the legend must stay legible small; if they don’t, there’s too much on the map.

Make it hold up when forwarded

Release maps get screenshotted and passed on without the text around them. A clear title, the project name, the date, and the key intercept on the map itself mean it still makes sense with nobody there to explain it.

Have the data ready

Turnaround depends mostly on the data. Have these ready before results are final: collar, downhole survey and assay tables (or the drill-database export); claim boundaries; the intercepts you want called out; and the coordinate system the data is in. Your Qualified Person reviews and approves the map before it goes out with the release.