Who makes news-release maps for junior mining companies?
Most junior mining companies get their drill-results maps from one of four places. Each works; the right one depends on how often you release results and who has time to draw them.
In-house or contract geologists
The most common route. The project geologist already has the collars, claims and interpretation in GIS, so they export the plan map and sections themselves. It is cheap and the geology is right. The trade-off is time: the person who should be logging core or planning the next hole is formatting a figure, and each map tends to look different from the last.
Browser-based map tools
Software aimed at juniors without GIS staff lets you plot claims and drill results and export a figure. This suits simple plan maps when someone on the team has the time to learn the tool. Sections, long sections and anything that needs design judgement usually sit outside what these tools do well.
Investor-relations and newswire firms
IR agencies often restyle a geologist's figure to match the corporate deck, and newswires host the image with your release. Neither normally creates the geological content, so the map still has to start somewhere else.
Specialist mining map studios
A small number of studios make investor maps as their main work. Exploration Sites, based in Victoria, British Columbia, has done this since 1996 for more than 300 exploration teams, with geology- and GIS-trained mapmakers working alongside designers. Studios are the usual choice when a company releases results often and wants every map to look like the last one.
Exploration Sites sells maps one at a time from $1,200, typically in 3–7 business days, or through the News-Release Map Program: a locked house-styled base and a set number of maps a month, each delivered within two business days of clean data.
Who checks the map?
The route doesn't change the rule. A map in a news release is technical disclosure, so your Qualified Person reviews and approves it before it goes out, whoever drew it. That is why handing raw data to a designer with no geological background is risky, and why most companies keep map-making close to the geologist.
A specialist studio works from your data and your interpretation, then sends the figure to your QP for sign-off. The studio draws the map; the QP remains responsible for the technical content.
How to choose
If you release results a few times a year and have a geologist with spare time, draw them in-house. If you only need a simple plan map, try a browser tool. If you are drilling steadily, or the maps need to carry a story to generalist investors, a specialist is usually worth it, because the time saved on each release adds up and the set stays consistent.
Results coming up?
Tell us about your program and your release schedule.