An interpretation of Airborne Magnetic data to characterize Nickel-Copper Mineralization in Mpemba Hill, Blantyre Malawi

The present study seeks to characterize Ni-Cu mineralization at Mpemba hill in Blantyre, southern Malawi by using Aeromagnetic and drill hole data. The area has been under-explored for this important economic commodity and as such not much is known regarding its mineralization po-tential. The Aeromagnetic data were gridded using a minimum curvature gridding method and a 50 m grid cell size was used. The Ni-Cu host lithologies are characterized by high magnetism, and are mostly ultramafic rocks. Drilling results indicates that the mineralization starts at depths from 50m and remains open. The area is associated with disseminated and blebby type of miner-alization and the mineralization is associated with high magnetic signatures in ultramafic meta pyroxenite bodies yielding high base metal values. Euler model depths analysis of the magnetic sources is deep, lies at 3.2 km depth and the shallower magnetic bodies lie between 100 m and 1000 m. The depth estimates show that the mineralization is near surface and goes deep, so fur-ther exploration should not be limited to shallow depth. The ultramafic rocks are potential areas for Ni-Cu mineralization in the area and it has a huge potential to find economic mineralization which can lead to mining.