The Geoscience Australia (GA) Inorganic Geochemistry database (GEOCHEM) contains chemical analyses and analytical metadata from rocks and regolith materials. The majority of analysed samples are from mapping and sampling programs in Australia by GA and its predecessor organisations (BMR, AGSO), along with a considerable collection from the Australian Antarctic Territory. A small number of analyses exist from Papua New Guinea and offshore sampling programs. The data set is currently used for internal GA consumption and is served off an application within the GA portal. As an enhancement, this data would be altered in terms of its structure adding more information out of such analyses. In addition, the data would me made compliant following GGIC standards. The data would be published within internal GA as well as to external third parties, through OGC web services viz. WMS and WFS.

One of the aims of the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program is to characterise the geochemistry of sedimentary and volcanic units, overbank sediments and groundwater in northern Australia to de-risk resource exploration and inform decision making. Underpinning this effort has been the generation of high-quality geochemical data from Geoscience Australia’s laboratories. A streamlined workflow from sample collection to reporting ensures that samples are processed consistently and to a high standard, and use of rigorously tested methodologies and appropriate QA/QC practices ensures data quality. This abstract highlights many of the processes undertaken in the laboratories, ranging from new sample preparation procedures (including automated milling and setting up temporary remote processing facilities) to organic geochemistry, mineralogy, inorganic geochemistry and geochronology. The laboratories were also instrumental in assisting with fieldwork, outsourcing sample analyses and storing data in corporate databases. The large volume of new data generated over the EFTF program has been used to characterise the geology and geochemistry of a range of rocks, regolith, oils, gas and groundwater, and has been instrumental in increasing knowledge of the resource potential of northern Australia and informing decision making. <b>Citation:</b> Jarrett, A.J.M., Thun, C., Champion, D.C., Boreham, C.J., Main, P., Waltenberg, K., Schroder, I., Bastrakov, E., DiBugnara, D., Long, I., Chen, J., Hong, Z., Sohn, J., Jinandasa, N., Palatty, P.,Webber, S., Webster, T., Byass, J., Gilmore, S., Williamson, A., Tubby, J., Long, R., Linehan, B. and Magee, C., 2020. Generation of high-quality data for energy, minerals and groundwater by Geoscience Australia’s laboratories. In: Czarnota, K., Roach, I., Abbott, S., Haynes, M., Kositcin, N., Ray, A. and Slatter, E. (eds.) Exploring for the Future: Extended Abstracts, Geoscience Australia, Canberra, 1–4.