What green, yellow, red, and black plots mean
The idea behind the colors
Most map tools hand you raw layers and leave you to assemble a conclusion. The screening map does the opposite: it combines public claim, land-status, access, restriction, and historical-context data into a single rated candidate plot, so you can see where deeper research is worth doing at a glance. The color is a summary of that reasoning, and it is intentionally cautious.
What each color is for
- Green — a planning lead worth researching further. The screening signals line up reasonably well. It is a starting point for official verification, not a claimable or confirmed spot.
- Yellow — a weaker or more uncertain lead. Something is mixed or incomplete. Worth a look, with more scrutiny than a green plot.
- Red — a poor candidate or one with a mapped concern. Shown as an audit layer so you can see why an area was screened out, not as a suggestion to go there.
- Black — a mapped blocker or high-uncertainty area — for example a conflict with existing claims or a restriction. Audit context that explains an exclusion.
By default the map shows green and yellow (the leads) and lets you turn on red and black (the audit layers) when you want to understand why ground was excluded.
What a color does not tell you
A green or yellow plot does not mean land is legally claimable, open to mineral entry, free of private rights, free of claim conflicts, safely accessible, or a place gold will actually be found. Source data can be incomplete, stale, capped, or wrong. The color narrows research; it never ends it.
This conservatism is deliberate. The map is designed to produce fewer false "go" signals, to make uncertainty visible, and to treat "probably not worth pursuing" as a useful answer. A quiet map is doing its job.
How to use a color well
Treat green and yellow plots as a shortlist for the research workflow: confirm land and mineral status, read the existing claims, check withdrawals and closures, and confirm access — then verify the exact parcel and visit before you decide anything. Use red and black plots to learn why an area is a poor bet, which often teaches you more about a drainage than the green plots do.