T.T. No 5

Tanjung Tualang 5

Useful Information

Location:	Tanjung Tualang, 60 km south of Ipoh
Open:
Fee:	Outside tour: Adults MYR 5, Children MYR 3. Inside tour: Adults MYR 15, Children MYR 8. [2009]
Classification:	Tin Mine
Light:	n/a.
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1938	built by W.F. Payne & Sons for Pernas Chartered Management Sdn Bhd..
1983	operations stopped due to the collapse of the tin mining industry.
01-JAN-2008	opened to the public.

Geology

Description

T.T. No 5 is the last surviving tin dredge in Tanjung Tualang. T.T. No 5 was built by W.F. Payne & Sons for Pernas Chartered Management Sdn Bhd. Later it belonged to Southern Malayan Tin Dredging (M) Sdn Bhd. It worked for 44 years, between 1938 and 1983, scouring tin ore in the Kinta Valley. In 1983 the tin mining industry collapsed due to low market prices for tin. The mines were closed, the machinery decommissioned or sold.

Tin mining was common in Perak for a long time. The mining even is the reason for the states name, Perak means silver in the Malayan language. However, the state was successful in restructuring its economics after the collapse of the mining in 1983.

The tin was mined by unique swimming dredges which were working the sea floor.

The tin dredge was saved, restored, and developed as an tourist attraction by the Perak government, which spent over half a million ringgit for this purpose. Opened to the public on 01-JAN-2008 the dredge stayed almost unknown as the government run tourist information office Tourism Malaysia failed to promote it.

In 2009 the situation worsened, as one of the pontons was starting to leak. And while there had been some money to restore the dredge in the first place, none was left for maitenance and the entrence fees were not sufficient for the repairs. At first the water was continually pumped from the ponton, but the costs for electricity accumulates and soon the site will run out of money and the dredge will sink, or even worse will turn over which most likely will completely destroy it.