Early mining methods An early method of indigenous
mining was the Lombong Siam, meaning Siamese mines. Malay miners used
ground sluicing or the lampan method by cutting ditches from the nearest river. In the nineteenth century,
Mandailing migrants from
Sumatra were observed using the tabuk mine, which is an excavated pit from which water is removed by cantilevered baskets.
Chinese mining The first tin rush to Kinta lasted from 1884 to 1889 where new land was taken up by Chinese miners using labour-intensive methods. Hailing from the farmlands of
Guangdong, the Chinese mining workers at first used agricultural implements such as hoes, rakes and baskets to excavate the earth. The Chinese also introduced the
water wheel to
dewater the mines. The second tin rush lasted from 1889 to 1895, and was characterised by small gangs of tributers using the wooden
sluice box (
lanchut kechil). Around the turn of the twentieth century, two of the most famous large Chinese mines were the
Tambun Mines, owned by
Leong Fee, and
Tronoh Mines, owned by
Foo Choo Choon. Lam Look Ing and Aw Kong. Up till the late twentieth century, Chinese women miners could be commonly observed panning tin with wooden trays (
dulang) from stream-beds and tailing dumps of tin mines.
European mining The longest operating European mine in the Kinta Valley was the French
Société des Etains de Kinta better known as SEK, which started operating in 1886 and only closed down in 1985.
Foo Choo Choon's Tronoh Mines was floated in London and became a European concern. Several opportunities arose for Osborne, founder of the
Gopeng tin mining Company, who expanded his business by forming the famous professional partnership of
Osborne & Chappell in 1901.
Dredging near
Batu Gajah In 1913,
dredging was put into practice by Malayan Tin Dredging Ltd. (MTD), which later became the largest tin dredging company in the world. It had a significant impact on Kinta in terms of technological advancement. The bucket dredge was introduced and was the final breakthrough of the Malayan tin mining industry. The last surviving dredge can be found at
Batu Gajah along Jalan
Tanjung Tualang. It belongs to Southern Malaya Tin Dredging. ==See also==