Exploration work has a rate for every unit — a claim, a kilometre, a sample, a metre of core — and the programme is funded in phases as the client raises the money for the next one. QuixChex carries your rate against every unit on a phase, and bills that phase from the counts the crew brings in.
How a project runs
A junior wants a claim block covered before freeze-up. The proposal goes out as phases — mob the crew in, stake twelve claims, cut nine kilometres of grid, pull 480 soils, then mag over the cut lines. Staking finishes and bills at the claim rate. The soils go to the lab and the assays bill per sample. The north extension the client adds in September is a change order, not a second proposal. Two geologists and four line cutters are on the project at their day rates, so the crew days sit beside what the block has billed.
Each one carries its unit rate and its amount. It goes to the client as one proposal, signed on a phone, and it stays on the project from there.
Kilometres chained, samples numbered, metres drilled — the counts go on the project the day they happen, not in an email three weeks after demob.
480 soils at the sample price, nine kilometres at the line rate. The client pays it by ACH or card, while the drill is still turning.
Grid cut. Assays in. Phase billed and paid.
Your rates go on the proposal once — per claim, per kilometre, per sample, per metre of core. After that it’s the count that goes in, and the draw shows the count against the rate. That’s the sum the client’s geologist is doing anyway.
Mobilisation bills on the way in, and the staking bills the week it’s finished — while the grid is still being cut. The project says which phases have billed and which have been paid, so the season’s money isn’t waiting on the summary report.
Another four kilometres, 300 more soils, sixty extra metres on hole four — each goes on as a change order at the rate already agreed, signed before the crew walks the extension. The closing invoice holds no line the client didn’t approve first.
Set a day rate against each person, and days worked cost against the project. Come January the 1099 worksheet has the year’s total for everyone you paid, and flags the W-9s that never came back.
Day one
Say you run a mineral exploration business and QuixChex sets this up for you before you've typed anything. Every price is editable — they're a starting point, not a rule.
| Service | What it covers | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Claim Staking (per claim) | Stake, tag and record one claim unit | $850 |
| Line Cutting (per km) | Grid cutting and chaining, per kilometre | $1,200 |
| Soil Sampling (per sample) | Collected, bagged and logged | $38 |
| Assay — Multi-Element (per sample) | Lab multi-element package | $46 |
| Assay — Fire Assay Au (per sample) | Gold fire assay | $32 |
| Geophysical Survey (per line-km) | Mag, VLF or IP over the cut lines | $640 |
| Trenching & Channel Sampling (per m) | Excavate, map and channel sample | $175 |
| Core Drilling (per m) | Diamond drilling, all-in per metre | $210 |
| Core Logging & Splitting (per day) | Logging, photography and splitting | $780 |
| Topographic Survey (per acre) | Ground or drone topographic survey | $95 |
| Boundary / Legal Survey | Boundary retracement and plan | $2,400 |
| Geologist Day Rate | Field or project geologist, per day | $950 |
| Mobilisation & Demobilisation | Crew, equipment and camp in and out | $3,200 |
| Camp & Logistics (per day) | Accommodation, meals and fuel | $460 |
| Helicopter Support (per hour) | Rotary support for access and moves | $1,850 |
| Summary Report & Recommendations | Compiled results, plans and next-phase recommendations | $3,600 |
FAQ
Yes — and per claim and per acre as well, which is what the survey side runs on. The quantity goes beside the rate on the proposal, and the same lines carry through to the draw, so the invoice reads the way the proposal did.
Yes. Each phase is its own amount on the project, and billing one doesn’t touch the others. The phases the client hasn’t funded yet stay priced and unbilled, so a raise that slips moves the draw and not the proposal.
It goes on the same project as a change order — extra line-km, extra soils, extra metres, at the rates already on the file. The client signs the change order itself, so you’re not reopening the phases already agreed.
Yes. Geologists, surveyors, samplers and line cutters each get a day rate, and a day lands on the project it was worked on. Split a hand between two claim blocks in a season and each project carries only the days it paid for.
Yes. A retracement or a topographic survey is a project like any other — priced off the same list, billed on completion, and filed against the parcel it covers rather than a claim block. Area, parcel number and access notes sit on that record either way.
No. Tenure, assessment filings and the geological data belong in the systems built for them. This side holds what each phase billed, who was on the line and what the client’s paid.
A short call, on your own services and your own customers. We'll show you what the first week looks like, and talk through what it would take to get you there.