The Kinta Valley ( Malay: ) is a geographical feature and

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

in central

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, surrounding and including the state capital

Ipoh Ipoh (, ) is the capital city of the Malaysian States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Perak. Located on the Kinta River, it is nearly north of Kuala Lumpur and southeast of George Town, Penang, George Town in neighbouring Penang ...

. Historically the Kinta Valley was very rich in

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

, and their mines have been among the most productive in the world. The valley is formed by the Kinta River, a tributary of the Perak River, which flows between the

Titiwangsa Titiwangsa is one of the main areas located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Kuala Lumpur General Hospital is located south of Titiwangsa. The current member of Parliament of Malaysia, parliament for Titiwangsa is Johari Abdul Gha ...

and Keledang Ranges. It forms the largest tin field along the Siamese-Malayan peninsula tin belt. It has been mined since ancient times by indigenous peoples but more intensively mined by the Chinese and Europeans since the end of the nineteenth century. Today, the modern

Kinta district The Kinta District is a Districts of Malaysia, district in Perak, Malaysia. It contains the state capital Ipoh. Kinta is the most populated district in Perak and also the seventh most populated district in Malaysia. Kinta houses Ipoh, Perak's la ...

is one of the ten administrative districts of Perak. In 2018, the valley was declared Malaysia's second national geopark.

Geographic definition

The Kinta Valley Conurbation is officially known as Ipoh-Seri Iskandar-Lumut Development Promotion Zone () in the fourth National Physical Plan (NPP-4). Centred in the city of Ipoh, the metropolitan area spans all of Batu Gajah and Kampar, as well as parts of

Kuala Kangsar Kuala Kangsar (Perak Malay: ) is the royal town of Perak, Malaysia. It is located at the downstream of Kangsar River where it joins the Perak River, approximately northwest of Ipoh, Perak's capital, and southeast of George Town, Penang, Ge ...

, Perak Tengah and

Manjung The Manjung District, formerly known as Dindings, is a list of districts in Malaysia, district in the south-western part of the state of Perak, Malaysia. It is the List of districts in Malaysia, 26th-most populated district in Malaysia. It is ...

municipalities. , Kinta Valley had a population of 1.28 million, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Malaysia.

History

The Kinta Valley was occupied for thousands of years by the ancestors of the

Orang Asli The Orang Asli are a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous Indigenous peoples, indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia. As of 2017, the Orang Asli accounted f ...

. Prehistoric remains include the Tambun rock art. The Kinta Valley has been visited for tin by Indian traders since ancient times. Buddhist bronze artefacts have been excavated in Kinta in 1931.

Mining

Early mining methods

An early method of indigenous

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

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 The Mandailing (also known as Mandailing Batak) people are an ethnic group in Sumatra, Indonesia that is commonly associated with the Batak people. They are found mainly in the northern section of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They came und ...

migrants from

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

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 ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, 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 A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

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'').Khoo Salma Nasution and Adbur-Razzaq Lubis, 2005. ''Kinta Valley: Pioneering Malaysia's Modern Development''. Ipoh: Perak Academy. 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. There were many successful Chinese miners too like

Eu Tong Sen Eu Tong Sen (; 23 July 1877 – 11 May 1941) was a businessman in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was vice-president of the Anti-Opium Society and a member of the Kinta Sanitary Board.Twent ...

, Chop Thai Lee, Chung Thye Phin, Au Moh Yi, Yau Tet Shin, Khi Ho Nin, Shak Yin Fuk, 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 Gopeng (Jawi script, Jawi: ڬوڤيڠ) is a town located in Mukim Teja, Kampar District, Perak, Malaysia. It is situated approximately south of Ipoh, the state capital. History Gopeng was the most important town in the Kinta Valley until 1890 ...

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use ca ...

Company, who expanded his business by forming the famous professional partnership of Osborne & Chappell in 1901.

Dredging

In 1913,

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

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.Ingham, F. T. and E. F. Bradford, ''The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Kinta Valley, Perak'', Kuala Lumpur: Government Printer, 1960. The last surviving dredge can be found at Batu Gajah along Jalan Tanjung Tualang. It belongs to Southern Malaya Tin Dredging.

References

External links

{{coord missing, Malaysia Geography of Perak Valleys of Malaysia Geoparks in Malaysia