Beauty of Life with Jo: Kinta Tin Mining Museum

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Kinta Tin Mining Museum

Kinta Tin Mining Museum, Kampar, Perak

The Perak Kinta Valley is a famous and important tin mining centre in the 1880s. Malaya was the world's leading tin producer back then.

This museum, opened by a former miner, focuses on the Gravel Pump Method for tin extraction. Basically (after what I read and tried to understand!!!), the procedure of gravel pumping is as follows:

~ involved using water jets to break down the tin - bearing rocks

~ the slurry (semi liquid mixture) washes down to the bottom of the pit

~ the slurry is then pumped up via a palong using the gravel pump

~ the slurry flows back down BUT heavy tin ore would have been trapped in the wooden planks of the palong

~ the recovered tin is then kept in a shed and thereafter transported to the smelting plant

The old Dulang method of separating tin by manual washing of ore using a pan.

Museum

Arrival of Chinese laborers from 1860 to 1920

Open Cast Mining Manually

Primitive Open Cast Mining Manually

Palong

Kongsi houses

The Period of Malayan Emergency (Zaman Darurat) 1948 to 1960

Rickshaw

"In 1880s Malaya received its first rickshaw from Shanghai. Because it is light and convenient, it is very suitable for traveling in the city's streets and lanes..... Rickshaw pullers only earned 5 to 7 cents a day...."

The usages of Tin

Sun Yat Sen's Tokens of Appreciation

Sun Yat Sen had visited the major towns, including Kampar, of Malaya in 1908. Mr. Loh was a prominent miner back then. Sun gave these 3 coins to Loh as Loh supported Sun in establishing the New Republic of China. These coins was proof that the Malayan tin mining industry had contributed greatly in the revolution movement in China.

1) 1896 - Queen Victoria (One Penny)

2) 1902 - King Edwards VII (One Penny)

3) 1906 - King Edwards VII (One Penny)

Grocery prices in 1897

Prominent Figures in the Tin Mining Industry

Chung Keng Quee (Kwee)

First Kapitan Cina in Malaya in 1877

Originated from Guangdong, China and came to Perak in 1841

He was the first to use Hydraulic Pump for tin mining

Known as the Innovator in tin mining

Owned the biggest tin mine in the world with 5000 coolies

Founder and Administrator of Taiping

Wong Lok Yew

Born in Guangdong China and sold as a slave at 13 years old and sent to Johor

Worked in the tin mines and started his own provision store named Tong Hing Loong in Singapore

When the tin price crashed in the late 1870s, Loke went back to China almost bankrupt

1886, he came back to Malaya and helped the British to rebuild Kuala Lumpur after it was burnt down

First in Malaya to use hydro - electric pump in tin mining

Was one of the founders of Victoria Institution, Confucian School, Kuen Cheng Girls School and Hong Kong University.

Leong Pi Joo

1876, arrived in Penang and moved to Ipoh

Co-founded Tambun Mines with his father in law

Leong was a member of the Perak State Executive Council AND a Qing Dynasty deputy consul to Penang; he took care of the Chinese people's wellbeing and the execution of policies of the Qing Dynasty

Helped established Chung Hwa Confucian School, the first Chinese school in Malaya to use Mandarin as an instruction medium.