Rockhounding in Wayne County, MI: 10 USGS Mineral Sites (2026)

Check access before you go. Most sites listed here are old mines, quarries or prospects, and many are on private land or active mining claims. Get the landowner's permission, check the rules of the agency that manages any public land, and never enter mine workings. Locations are approximate.

Sketch map

Past ProducerProducerProspectOccurrenceStatus unknown

7 paw pins; nearby sites are grouped into one pin. Hover or tap a pin for the site name. County outline: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary file (2023). Locations approximate.

Woof’s favorite find

Rockwood Plant

We picked it because its USGS record mentions 1 gem or collectible mineral (Quartz) and 1 of our card minerals overall. No other named site here scores as high on both counts. USGS lists it as producer for Silica. Minerals mentioned: Quartz. Approx. location 42.056, -83.221. USGS record.

Ask first: a USGS record doesn’t mean you can visit. Find out who owns the land and get permission before collecting.

Field cards: what kind of sites?

Producer

Was producing when the record was made.

Past Producer

Produced ore or material at some point in the past.

Status terms come from USGS MRDS records.

Mineral cards

Quartz
Mohs 7. Six-sided points; smoky quartz is NH’s state gem. Mindat
1 site

Counts are sites whose USGS record mentions the mineral or commodity. Hardness from Mindat.

Minerals recorded here

Halite 1Quartz 1

Commodities

Calcium 2Iron 2Vermiculite 1Salt 1Aluminum 1Graphite 1Halite 1Silica 1

Sites

Site	Commodity	Minerals recorded	Status	Approx. location
Detroit Salt Mine	Halite	Halite	Producer	42.286, -83.149
Rockwood Plant	Silica	Quartz	Producer	42.056, -83.221
River Rouge Limekiln	Calcium	—	Producer	42.284, -83.121
Wr Grace Zonolite Div	Vermiculite	—	Producer	42.321, -83.177
Detroit Mine	Salt	—	Producer	42.287, -83.154
Detroit Lime Co Calcining Plant	Calcium	—	Producer	42.296, -83.150
Mclouth Steel Gibralter Roll'G Mill	Iron	—	Producer	42.330, -83.043
Stroble Primary Aluminum Plant	Aluminum	—	Past Producer	42.330, -83.043
Mclouth Steel Trenton Rolling Mill	Iron	—	Producer	42.147, -83.201
Cummings-Moore Graphite	Graphite	—	Producer	42.330, -83.043

Fossil collections

The Paleobiology Database lists 10 fossil collection records in Wayne County. These are research records, not public dig sites.

Nearby counties

Macomb County · Oakland County · Monroe County · Washtenaw County · St. Clair County

Michigan mineral guides

Back to all Michigan counties.

Is It Legal to Collect Rocks on Public Land? BLM, Forest Service and National Park Rules

How we built this page: we counted named sites in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) for this area, left out sand, gravel, crushed stone, clay pits and unnamed sites, grouped them by Census county, and linked every site to its USGS record. We did not visit these sites, and MRDS does not tell you who owns the land or whether collecting is allowed.

Source: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). USGS ceased systematic updates to MRDS around 2011, so status and details may be out of date. Each site links to its USGS record.

Updated October 2026

Rockhounding in Wayne County, Michigan