Australia’s national science agency CSIRO has this week released LandScape+, a new online tool to help geologists interpret their geochemical data and plan follow-up exploration programmes to target new resources across a range of commodities including gold, lithium and copper.

Mineral exploration in Australia is challenging because much of the land is covered by a thick layer of loose soil, sand, and broken-down rock – making it harder to detect signs of the valuable minerals beneath. Much of Australia is also remote and difficult to access to map the surface effectively.

LandScape+ uses remotely sensed data to create landform maps informed by machine learning at a 30-m resolution for mineral exploration, reducing the need for extensive, on-the-ground observations. It then integrates surface geochemistry for better, faster, and easier interpretation of soil survey results.

CSIRO senior research scientist Dr Anicia Henne says the Web-based tool allows users – like exploration geologists – to interpret their geochemical data in the context of the landscape, unlocking new insights and opportunities in underexplored and remote regions.

“Exploring through the regolith is notoriously difficult and interpreting geochemical results is time consuming and often requires specialist knowledge,” Henne says.

“We developed Landscape+ to simplify this process.”

By highlighting unusual soil samples across diverse landscapes, the software tool enables mineral explorers to refine their search with context.

“This gives exploration geologists the opportunity to rapidly interpret soil sampling results in context and create maps, especially in underexplored greenfield sites,” she says.

LandScape+ can generate maps at various scales, from 25 km² to 2 000 km², allowing explorers to assess their tenements efficiently, saving early-stage costs while accelerating tenement evaluation.

Users can purchase a licence to access LandScape+, and create landscape models for their exploration tenements and data.