AusGeochem Data Platform: Easily Visualise and Synthesise Public Data for Exploration

The AusGeochem data platform has been built by the AuScope Geochemistry Network (AGN) and Lithodat Pty Ltd to facilitate the sharing of data produced by geochemistry laboratories in Australian universities. AusGeochem provides users with access to a geochemistry data repository augmented with data visualisation and analytics capability. Our vision is to make the platform fully collaborative across the industry-academic-government sector and for it to become a key resource in quantitatively understanding Earth system processes, including the formation and preservation of critical mineral ores. When an industry collaborator approaches an Australian laboratory facility to obtain geochemical data, AusGeochem can be used first to search the area of interest for existing free, publicly available data. The data and sample location can then be interrogated through an array of easy to use visualisation and analytic tools that include toggling between different map layers e.g., (satellite, gravity, magnetics, geology, and contoured heat maps) and interrogating data in real time, setting up a more informed inspection of existing geochemical data and allowing users to target the best geochemical tool for their specific need. When analytical data generation is underway, users upload sample metadata to AusGeochem and laboratory staff performing the geochemical analyses can upload the finished data directly into the platform, simultaneously linking the analyses to the sample metadata. Collaborators from industry and academia can be provided secure and private access to the data to perform statistical analyses and use novel tools to visualise and synthesise data within the context of large volumes of aggregated publicly funded geochemical data, all directly within the AusGeochem platform. The development of this novel data platform kicks off a new era of structured and standardised `Big Data' analytics in exploration workflows. It enables users to interrogate intractably large geochemical datasets in new and powerful ways for exploration and developing a greater understanding of the deposits of economic interest.