
History of the Sungai Lembing Mines
Sungai Lembing town is located almost 50km away from Kuantan, the capital city of Pahang state (where Cherating is also located). The town used to be a bustling one in the early to mid-1900s, and was dubbed the “El Dorado of the East”. While the area was always a well-known producer of underground tin since the mid-1800s, production really ramped up in after 1888 when the Pahang Corporation established the underground mines. Chinese migrants were brought in and trained to mine for tin, and at that point of time, there wasn’t even any electricity.
In 1906, the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited (PCCL) took over management of the mines, and that’s when things really got serious. PCCL developed the mines into a massive network of underground tunnels, churning out tin at rates higher than ever before. Because the Sungai Lembing tin mines were doing exceptionally well, the nearby town also flourished, with PCCL providing it with water, electricity, and schools. The tin mining activities continued for 80 years after PCCL took over, before finally coming to a complete halt in 1986 after tin prices collapsed a year prior. Over the next decade, the town became more of a ghost town, though in recent years it has been revived as a tourist attraction, making it onto many Cherating visitors’ things-to-do list.