Explorers across Australia can now tap into a powerful new software tool designed to streamline mineral discovery, thanks to CSIRO’s latest innovation, LandScape+.
Launched this week, LandScape+ is an online platform that allows geologists to interpret their geochemical data in direct relation to the surrounding landscape.
“Exploring through the regolith is notoriously difficult and interpreting geochemical results is time consuming and often requires specialist knowledge,” CSIRO senior research scientist Dr Anicia Henne said.
“We developed Landscape+ to simplify this process.
“This gives exploration geologists the opportunity to rapidly interpret soil sampling results in context and create maps, especially in underexplored greenfield sites.”
Australia’s mineral exploration sector faces unique challenges due to vast areas being covered by thick layers of soil, sand, and fragmented rock and in many remote and underexplored regions, this makes traditional mapping and sampling both difficult and costly.
LandScape+ addresses this by integrating surface geochemistry with detailed terrain modelling, enabling rapid interpretation of soil survey results.
By combining machine learning with remotely sensed data, the tool creates high-resolution landform maps at a 30m scale, offering insights that would typically require extensive fieldwork.
This helps identify anomalous soil samples within the landscape, helping users more confidently focus their efforts on promising areas and refine their exploration programs.