Geophysical Anomaly Indicators for Mapping Lead-Zinc (Pb-Zn) in its Metallogenic Province, Southern Benue Trough, Nigeria

Abstract

One of the major challenges facing the mineral industry in Nigeria and Africa at large is insufficient geophysical information. The cost of geophysical equipment is rising geometrically. However, most of these countries have archives of geophysical data that are underutilized. Secondary (Magnetic, gravity and radiometric) data were collected, filtered and interpreted to generate anomaly indicators for exploring Lead-Zinc ores in southern Benue Trough province. Algorithms were tested using the existing mining sites to constrain the interpretation. It can be deduced that the high response of the magnetic analytic signal, residual gravity, and potassium in the western part of the area are mineralization indicators. Therefore, the magnetic analytic method was used to extract the probable depth to the top of the minerals in the area, which ranges from 47 to 113m and corresponds with the field measurements. The mineralization potential map of the area was developed. High mineralization dominated the western part of the area where the mining sites are concentrated. Therefore, the Pb-Zn ores are delineable using aeromagnetic, gravity, and radiometric datasets.