How do you design a long section investors can read?

Long section or cross section?

A cross section cuts across the zone and shows dip, width and how each hole met the mineralization. A long section runs along the zone and shows how far it extends along strike and at depth. Use a long section when the body is roughly tabular, such as a vein or shear, and the message is extent or continuity. Use a cross section when the message is geometry or width. For a headline intercept, show both, with a plan locating each section line.

Plot pierce points

A pierce point marks where a hole crosses the plane of the zone. Traces drawn through a long section quickly turn to clutter, so one point per intercept is usually clearer, coloured by a fixed set of grade bins. Include the weak and barren holes as well as the best ones, because the gaps are information. State whether the plane is vertical or inclined. On a vertical plane, a zone dipping 60° loses depth: 1,000 metres down dip plots as about 870 metres.

Use grade-thickness with care

Grade-thickness multiplies grade by width, usually in gram-metres, and contouring it shows where metal concentrates across the plane. It also merges two different things: 10 g/t over 2 metres and 2 g/t over 10 metres both make 20 gram-metres. State which width went into the calculation, and keep the data points on top of the contours so readers can see how much drilling supports each band. Contours drawn across wide gaps suggest continuity the holes have not shown, so your QP decides how far they run.

Avoid vertical exaggeration

Draw at 1:1 by default. Stretching the vertical scale changes the apparent shape of the zone, and readers rarely notice. If a very wide, shallow body needs a stretch to be legible, print the ratio next to the scale bar. A quick test is to compare the scale bar with the elevation axis: in Figure 3, 500 metres is the same length on both.

Label for someone who wasn’t there

The figures above show the working set: a section name, the viewing direction, the slice width where one applies, an elevation axis, a scale bar and a small plan showing where the section sits. Add hole IDs and intervals, and keep new results visibly separate from earlier ones. A release figure gets forwarded on its own, so the date and project name belong on it too.

Show open directions honestly

“Open” means drilling has not closed the zone off in that direction, which is a weaker claim than saying mineralization continues. Mark an arrow only where the last holes are mineralized and nothing has tested beyond them, and let your QP confirm each one. Keep arrows modest and show the directions that are closed as well. For companies reporting under JORC, the 2012 Code asks for representative reporting of both low and high grades or widths when not every result can be reported. JORC’s August 2026 update targeted finalising a revised Code in late 2026, so check the current edition.

Say what the widths are

A long section looks face-on at the zone, so the reader cannot see width, which makes the label the only evidence. Say whether each interval is core length or estimated true width, as your QP specifies. If true width isn’t known, say so on the figure. NI 43-101 section 3.3(2) requires true widths to the extent known, plus any significantly higher grade intervals within a lower grade intersection, when results on a material property are disclosed in writing. JORC Clause 19 requires a qualification where true widths are not reported.

Regulators have documented this gap. In CSA Staff Notice 43-309 (2015), 70 of the 130 website presentations reviewed included drilling results. Of those, 38% gave no true-width information and 42% omitted significantly higher grade intervals. Staff said that without such context, drilling results may be potentially misleading. A replacement for NI 43-101 was still only proposed on November 6, 2026.

What the QP approves

Your QP owns everything technical: the zone interpretation, the projection plane, the grade bins, contours, open arrows and width statements. Under sections 2.1 and 3.1 of NI 43-101, disclosure on a material property rests on a qualified person, and written disclosure names that person. Exploration Sites Corp. is not a Qualified Person and does not prepare NI 43-101 reports. We draw from your data and interpretation, then send the figure for sign-off. Nothing here is investment advice, and numbers in client figures are as each company reported them.

We draw long sections from $1,200, typically in 3–7 business days. On the News-Release Map Program, Cadence covers up to 4 maps a month and Active Drill up to 8, each delivered within two business days of clean, complete data, for up to two maps per request.