Bau, Sarawak

Bau (GPS: 1.41722, 110.15462) is a small town in the Kuching Division of Sarawak. It is most famous for being a gold mining town. Mining operations began in the 1840s when gold was discovered by Chinese miners from Pangkalan Tebang. The Chinese Uprising of 1857 induced The Borneo Company to buy out the Chinese, and by 1884, the last Chinese syndicate was bought out. Nonetheless, Chinese miners continued to work the mine during the Great Depression.

The Borneo Company introduced the use of cyanide to extract gold. This unfortunately had a harmful effect on the environment. By 1921, most of the easily reachable gold had been taken out, forcing the mine to close. It reopened in the 1970s when gold prices soared, and closed again in 1997 at the start of the Asian Financial Crisis. In 2002, Preston Resources took over the mining operations from Oriental Peninsula Gold while in 2006, Zedex Minerals bought a controlling interest in the operations.

Map of Bau

Sights in Bau

Bau is on the map of Towns in Sarawak

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