Ken Redington Greenhorn Posts: 
| 13 Jan 2017 09:35 PM |
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Good day,
I am a new first time member and had a question. I live in SE Michigan and was wondering if there is anyplace to practice panning. I see reports saying there is placer gold all over the place and it has been found here in Oakland county (North of Detroit). Problem is I have also seen writing stating that the DNR seems to discourage panning with all sorts of rules. Being as I have no desire to break the law just where can we pan here?
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Leo Lorenz Basic Member Posts:486
| 14 Jan 2017 04:59 AM |
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Ken....the best way is to go and buy a few bags of salted pay dirt. I was skeptical of this at first....but after several bags of trying....you catch the idea really quick. Reason why?? Because if you go out fresh to prospect, you most likely will not find anything and you may get frustrated because there may be no gold to find or you may be losing it due to your skill level. Its better safe to first understand what is happening in the pan, how small bits of gold move around in the pan, and other nuances. Besides, its cheaper to do that first.
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William Hall Buzzard Posts:660
| 14 Jan 2017 09:27 AM |
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Leo,
Excellent logical advise
Bill
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BOB MANNINGGreenhorn Posts:4
| 14 Jan 2017 05:50 PM |
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Ken welcome to a great group, Me and the wife have joined up with the local chapter in Michigan, they are very active in the state, and have a 1/2 dozen or so outings every year. Everything is frozen right now, but come spring, they will be posting the outing schedule. Here is a link to the GPAA Page, http://www.goldprospector...ome/ChapterId/REMUMI and the have a Facebook page as well "Michigan's awesome GPAA" Bob M |
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 14 Jan 2017 07:57 PM |
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Leo,
Good advice but am already ahead of the curve. Got 2 bags of paydirt for X-mas along with a starter kit of pans, vials, magnet, and the like. Matter of fact went through them tonight learning my new hobby. Now saving what is left till I get a sluce to run it through and see what I missed.
I tend to reaserch first before jumping into anything I do. Like I know there is placer gold in Birmingham streams but know better then to even look for it in that town.
Come summer I travel 3 states doing my hobby events so will be taking a bucket with a travel kit to scoop up some goodies to bring home and go through when I go camping. But...that is June so a long way off. |
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 14 Jan 2017 08:03 PM |
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Bob. I have already looked at the MI chapter website, noticed it was a bit sparse but that may be due to the low active member base. Unfortunatly I avoid Twitch, Facebook, and the other group sites. I will be keeping an eye on it though. Already looked at everything on You Tube I could find for hints and lessons. Just need to get my feet wet come spring and find a place or a partner who will let me tag along ( Old guy, talks a lot, limited range both vehicle and personal, ect). Once I get someplace I am there for the duration though. Camp every summer including a two week stint in PA every August so am no stranger to outdoors.
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ADAM ANDREWSGreenhorn Posts:
| 14 Jan 2017 09:15 PM |
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I'll bet you'll find more copper nuggets than Gold. I've seen lots of Copper nuggets from Michigan. A local rock & mineral shop has some the size of a Potato. |
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 14 Jan 2017 11:45 PM |
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Yep, lots of copper up here. Also gold though , just not in productive quanities. Seen reports of gold coming out of streams near Ann Arbor, Birmingham, and a buch of places north and south of Grand Rapids. UP also had an active gold mine till it collasped 10 or 20 years ago. Some day may see if we can get up there and rummage through the tailing piles. Downside is if they did the treating of tailings to leach all the leftover out it is much less then desirable to get near them.
Right now just suffering the new hobby itch, give it a month or so and I will calm down.
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WALTER EASONBuzzard Posts:581
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 16 Jan 2017 07:29 PM |
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Thanks very much for the update,
Just got my new members box today (UPS delivered on MLK near Detroit?). A quick thumb through show there is very little on Michigan, but that sort of does not surprise me. Looks like I will be breaking ground on my search for a spot to dig. My wife is already looking at the Traverse City area ( but is in no way interested.....right). Should be interesting.
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 17 Jan 2017 12:20 PM |
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OK, spent the night going through my package from GPAA. The vidio was useful but short, could have used a section on what to expect and bring when going out into the field, sort of a packing list of what you might need and why. Stickers and hat were nice (needed a new ball cap anyway) as were the magazines. Now for the big one, the directory book. While VERY useful and helpful I had to notice one thing. It concentrated on the west of the US. Very little on the Eastern coast strike in 29, and almost nothing on the placer gold in the rust belt. Don't get me wrong, it is very useful and well done, just lacking in the eastern side of the country. There is gold in places other then the west coast and 4 corners area. Not much, but some. Those of us who can not road trip halfway accross the country could use a little help finding the fields closer to home.
Oh Yeh...found a typo in the Michigan section, it is Oakland county..not Okland
Was it worth it?...yes
Helpful?...very
Could it use improvment?...what can't?
all in all the starter package is well worth the cost (that shipping add on though) |
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Nick LarsenGreenhorn Posts:3
| 20 Jan 2017 01:58 PM |
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One of the first things the GPAA book says about Michigan is lake Superior beach gold. and it mentions a couple of rivers. I'm sure that the gold would be fine but that is what you get sometimes. I pan the Black Hills near Deadwood for a couple/few months each summer and the biggest "nugget" I've ever found was .41 gram. Most of the gold I get would be a little bigger or about the same size as the point of a pin. When I find gold the size of the head of a pin I'm having a really good day.
Good Luck and have fun!
Nick
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Jonathan SeverGreenhorn Posts:
| 26 Jan 2017 07:09 AM |
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we need to do something, we really dont have a solid place to go here in michigan that is open to gpaa members at anytime. we did have a spot in ionia michigan but that only lasted about half the summer. I tried starting a gofundme account to purchase some land for us here in michigan but i had no luck with that. I do have a telephone number about some land for sale , its a gravel pit that i frequent and there is gold there. Even the quarternary maps show that area to be part of the galcial outwash. Anyone else have an idea or solution.?
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Shawn Willett New Member Posts:40
| 26 Jan 2017 05:48 PM |
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Ken, welcome to GPAA! When ya do your travels outside of MI, hit up the chapters in those states. PA has an active chapter as well as OH. I'm the MI chapter webmaster and current VP (got railroaded). While MI at first seems a bit challenging to prospect in, MDNR hasn't locked us out of pursuing our passion. First piece of info that ya wanna have handy is the 1982 Quaternary Map. This map shows all the surface geology for MI. The purples are where the best color is at. 99% of Michigan gold is very fine, like 50 mesh or smaller. There are spots where ya can run into quite a bit of the fly poop. Visually looks like ya hit the motherlode, but the scale will bring ya back to earth. Our Officer's Meeting will be held in March with the 2017 schedule getting hammered out then. I'll have the schedule posted to michgpaa.com by end of the day. Hope to see ya this year at one of our outings!
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 26 Jan 2017 08:07 PM |
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Shawn,
Looking forward to summer so I can get out a bit.
Biggest problems are.....
1. To find a place where I can pan, does not have to be a lot but not a wash either.
2. Looking at some of the areas around Grand Rapids (been seeing positive things about North of there), but not real sure how to get started.
3. Placer gold here should be almost everywhere due to the way it was scattered, so wondering where else it could be hiding. I KNOW it is north of me in Birmingham but that is a ritzy area so would need permission to pan on private property. On top of this area being built up so heavy.
All in all, have a new hobby and no clue on how to go about it. Not sure how annoying the DNR is going to get, or where I can pan without catching flack. Just something that takes time I guess. I truely do wish there were some closer gold shows though. Even more presence in the Gem and Mineral show around here in the fall would be good (Hint...a GPAA table with information and panning supplies for sale would be a good start). As of now will just take a bucket and pan with me to camping events I do for another hobby and collect rough to sort at home. |
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Brad LambBasic Member Posts:334
| 27 Jan 2017 08:15 AM |
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A little trivia.... Mike Pung, of Gold Cube Fame, came up with the idea for the GOLD CUBE while trying to figure a better way to process heavy black sands from beach areas of Lake Superior.
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Ken RedingtonGreenhorn Posts:
| 27 Jan 2017 11:25 AM |
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Yeh, was reading about that in one of the mags. Planning on getting up north to Travers City maybe later this year. Only been accross the bridge into thr UP once so may try to road trip it later this year. I KNOW my wife will want to road trip as she likes to travel. Really would like to know it there are tailing piles at the gold mine up there we can get at without getting into trouble or Mercury.
Right now I am in research phase of my new hobby (normal progress for me) Reading up, talking, and watching boards) Also grabbed half a dozen books on panning to get me up to speed. Time spent on research and looking for a spot to pan will pay me back threefold over just digging holes in random spots. May try to get to the camp near Battle Creek this summer on a panning weekend. Biggest question is do the Dutchman camps allow GPAA members to come any time or only on special weekends? I fully understand there may be a charge but would be a shame to drive halfway accross the state to be turned away. |
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Shawn WillettNew Member Posts:40
| 27 Jan 2017 12:11 PM |
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Ken, GPAA members can use Athens any time, while the camp is open. There is a camp fee or dig fee depending on if you're staying overnite or not. Chuck is the caretaker there and can answer your questions about the camp.
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Shawn WillettNew Member Posts:40
| 27 Jan 2017 12:11 PM |
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Ken, GPAA members can use Athens any time, while the camp is open. There is a camp fee or dig fee depending on if you're staying overnite or not. Chuck is the caretaker there and can answer your questions about the camp.
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Shawn WillettNew Member Posts:40
| 27 Jan 2017 12:15 PM |
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Ken, GPAA members can use Athens any time, while the camp is open. There is a camp fee or dig fee depending on if you're staying overnite or not. Chuck is the caretaker there and can answer your questions about the camp.
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