Sungai Lembing Museum is located approximately 42km from Kuantan. It is easily accessible by a good road network. A visit to the museum will leave you enthralled with the knowledge of Sungai Lembing as being once the largest subterranean mine in the world. Once dubbed the ‘El-Dorado’ of the Malay States, it was a special settlement for the British officers once upon a time.

This history of tin-mining is believed to have started since the prehistoric period, and it was once intensively mined by the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited (PCCL), a British company established in 1906.

The tin mining industry had been through some tough times over the decades. The engulfing fire in 1921 and flood in 1926, the Japanese Occupation from 1941 till 1945 during the World War II, the Communist attack in the 1950s… it was quite expensive to rebuild the place after every disaster, but somehow, the Sungai Lembing tin mine managed to survive through them all.

However, when the price dropped drastically for the tin mining industry in 1985, no perseverance of any kind could resuscitate the place like they have done so many times before. So, in 1986, the industry was liquidated, and the ‘El-Dorado of the East’ has since become a ghost town compared to its days in the yesteryear.

Today, the place is brought back to life as a museum exhibiting information and historical evidence of what was once Pahang’s richest tin manufacturer. The Sungai Lembing Museum is managed by the Department of Museums and Antiquities, and the museum is set up in what was once the General Manager’s house back in its heydays, which is more than a hundred years old.

There are information displays on the history of the Sungai Lembing tin mining industry (from its establishment in 1906 till its liquidation in 1986), as well as information on how tin was processed and made. There are even administrative mining tools and equipments of the mine displayed in the museum – from the mining attires and basic tools used during mining, such as hard hats, carbide lamps and battery-operated lamps, to the equipments used during that era, such as calculators, telegrams and typewriters, down to the utensils and furniture they used back in the days.

There is also an exhibition of the manager’s bedroom, adapted in the 1960s era. The room is furnished with a dresser, wardrobe, clothes hanger and other furnishings befitting that era, as well as portraits and bibliographies of prominent personalities that had contributed to the development and prosperity of Sungai Lembing are also displayed. There is even a Duty Free Shop displayed in the museum, which symbolises the prosperity and economic achievements of Sungai Lembing of yesteryear.

A few minutes’ walk from the Sungai Lembing Museum are the underground tunnels once used for tin mining. Known locally as ‘pengkang’, they were dug manually with the occasional usage of explosives. Before any mining work was undertaken, geologists would identify tin deposits areas to ensure continuous operation and profitability of the mines.

The deepest tunnel is the Myah Mines, measuring up to 700 meters below ground level. The Taibeto Mine is 500 meters and the distance between each tunnel is about 30 meters, while the overall length of the tunnels is approximately 322km.

These underground tunnels are now unstable and no longer safe to visit due to disuse, constant flooding and cave-ins.

The Sungai Lembing Museum opens from 9AM till 5PM on Mondays to Sundays, 9AM to 12.15PM and 2.45PM to 5PM on Fridays. It is closed on Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Aidiladha. The admission is free.

For further information, please contact the Department of Museums and Antiquities at +6 09 541 2378, or fax them at +6 09 541 2377.