The last dredge
A relic of the tin age.
Tony Ng — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tony Ng — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Tony Ng — CC BY-SA 3.0 · LokHK99 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tony Ng — CC BY-SA 3.0
The last surviving giant tin dredge in Malaysia, a huge machine that floated on a man-made lake and scooped up its bed to extract tin ore, the metal that made the Kinta Valley around Ipoh one of the richest mining regions in the world in the early twentieth century. It was built in England in 1938 and worked for forty-four years until 1982, when the tin industry collapsed with falling prices and exhausted deposits. It weighs about four and a half thousand tons, stands on a floating pontoon seventy-five metres long, and trails a long chain of steel buckets. The dredge was restored after years of neglect, and guided tours run several times a day, taking you up through its decks to see its machinery and hear the story of mining, with a chance to pan sand for tin the old way. A ticket costs about twenty-one ringgit; it opens Tuesday to Sunday with a lunchtime break and closes on Mondays. You will need a car from Ipoh, and it combines with nearby Kellie's Castle at Batu Gajah for a half day.
A relic of the tin age.
Inside the giant machine.
Try the old way.
Km 9, Jalan Tanjung Tualang, Batu Gajah, about forty minutes' drive south of Ipoh
Yes, both are in the Batu Gajah area south of Ipoh, about a quarter of an hour's drive apart, making a good half day together.