Peninsular Malaysia Gold History at a Glance

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Malaysia has a long history of gold production starting from the era of the Malacca Sultanate in the 1400s. Interestingly, gold mining activities in the Peninsular Malaysia started well before the development of the great goldfields of USA, South Africa, Australia and USSR. So much so, the Peninsular Malaysia was called the “Aurea Chersonese” or the “Golden Peninsular” by the ancient explorer Ptolemy.

Historically small scale mining activities were wide spread throughout the country with remnants of “Lombong Siam” and the British old workings prevalent in the Central Gold Belt of Peninsular Malaysia. The book “Sejarah Melayu” mentioned about gold from Pahang being sold in Melaka during the heydays of the Malacca Sultanate. Furthermore, the northern States of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu paid “Bunga Emas” as gold tribute to King of Siam indicating the existence of gold mining in those States.