Sungai Lembing, Pahang

Sungai Lembing, Pahang
© Schoy Loklok

Sungai Lembing (GPS: 3.91426, 103.03012; Chinese: 林明, Pinyin: Língmíng) is a small town in Pahang. Despite its name, it is actually located along Sungai Kenau, which is a tributary of Sungai Kuantan. Located some 42 km to the northwest of Kuantan, the settlement got its name because, based on legend, the local ruler saw a spear jutting out of the river (probably Sungai Kenau), so this Arthurian legend gave the site its name, which means "speared river".

The Sungai Lembing area is rich in tin deposit and has been a site for small-scale tin mining going back to time immemorial. During the British administration, particularly in the 1880s, when demand for tin soared, the Sungai Lembing area became the site of large-scale underground tin mining. Mining in the area was managed by the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited, PCCL, which handled the underground tin mining in Sungai Lembing from 1906 until it ceased operations in 1986, following the collapse in world tin prices. By then, the area had some 322 kilometers of mining tunnels, reaching to a depth of 700 meters. This was the largest and deepest underground tin mine in the world.