Sri Banting De Old Iron Monster of Selangor

During my younger years we used to come across the term tin dredging sometime we could see it in action or we could read about it occasionally. It was the British who introduced this large scale method to boost Malaysia's tin mining industry.

Thanks to Robert for inviting me to join the group to search for a defunct tin dredge somewhere at the proximity of Dengkil and KLIA. A GPS coordinate was provided and the meeting was made possible. All the while I thought there is only one left in Perak and never realised that there is one more in Selangor.

Two went on foot while the other two were on bicycles. We followed a path starting from an illegal dump site and it was running along the water edge.

We were delighted to see the dredge from a distance as it is still floating majestically on the pond and I was eager to get closer to it.

The name of this dredge is called Sri Banting secretly hidden in a quiet big pond. We could hear dogs barking as we came near it and I was worried that the dogs could be aggressive.

Fortunately the dogs were not able to reach us as they were separated from the land and the dredge. The two loud barking dogs sounded fierce but I think they are friendly as their tails were wagging continuously as they barked.

You just need a couple of pulls on the rope to get across to Sri Banting but nobody suggested to do so hence we were safe from the dogs.

View from a small floating pontoon that could connect to the dredge. 

Robert setting up his Mavic for the challenge.

This drone is small, portable and lovely to bring about for aerial photography.

SK & Robert were all set for their fun to view from the top. 

Dahon Speed P8 came in handy in this tough terrain as Anne and myself went on nosing around the surrounding trying to get different angles of Sri Banting.

The 4,800 tonnes iron monster is amazingly beautiful, it was built in 1974 and stopped its operation in 1997. The other surviving tin dredge in Malaysia is in Tanjung Tualang, Perak. I hope this piece of heritage could be preserved and kept for the world to share its history.

A short clip of the morning.