Phuket tin mining museum worth a visit
The museum's architecture is on Sino-Portuguese lines.
Long before Phuket became the epicentre of tourism in Southeast Asia, and for a much longer period, the island was renowned around the region for something just as valuable, though much more destructive: tin.
Way back in prehistory, when weapons were still made of flint, some bright spark discovered that if you mixed tin and copper – both of them soft metals – you got something much harder. Bronze. With this you could make hard, durable weapons and tools. Phuket had tin ore and, unlike many other tin sources, Phuket’s tin was not associated with arsenic, making it a lot less dangerous to mine.
At first, tin was obtained mostly by panning or from small mines, but as demand expanded, so did the sophistication of mining methods, and the damage caused by them. There was a huge boom in demand with as the Industrial Revolution spread across the world, with tin being used to coat machinery to prevent rust.
One of the museum's dioramas, in this case showing open cast mining - all done by hand.
If you had come to Phuket in the 1930s, you would not have recognised it. More than 200 muddy lakes pitted the countryside, as tin dredgers chomped their way across the countryside, leaving a moonscape in their wake.
Demand for Phuket’s tin died fairly abruptly in the late 1980s, partly with the advent of plastics, but also because sources easier to exploit were found elsewhere. As tourism began to take hold in the 1980s, opposition to heavy industry that destroyed natural beauty killed off tin mining.
But the tin era was central to the development of Phuket and of its culture and its ethnic mix.
It is this that is celebrated at the Phuket Mining Museum, which is now open – sort of – in the countryside in the middle of the island. Although the museum has not yet received its official opening, and parts, such as the auditorium and the surrounding gardens, have yet to be completed, the staff welcome visitors, and there is plenty to see, with most of the signage being in both Thai and English.
The general store in the reconstructed 1900s street.
The building is in the Sino-Portuguese style, built in a square around a large open courtyard. From the entrance, going left, one first enters a room with a “Sorng Taeo” or “baht bus” – a kind of transport one can still see around Phuket, made from a pickup chassis with a wooden body. Next to this is a gallery with a variety of exhibits in glass cages – rock, jewelry, currency, Buddha images, plastic dinosaurs (!) and more.
One then steps into the start of an explanation of tin – where it came from and how it was extracted. On the day the Observer visited, there was an electrical brown-out, so not all the exhibits were working and the lighting was a bit dim, though still sufficient.
The journey starts with an explanation of the chemistry, beginning with the creation of the solar system, and has a variety of dioramas and scenes showing different methods of tin mining.
The next room is more for those with an interest in industrial processes, explaining how tin ore is turned into pure metal. The third, stretching along the right side of the building is a recreation of a street in Phuket Town around 1900, with shops, cafés, a San Jao, or Chinese temple, and a typical kitchen of the era. Happily, it is not equipped with the squalor, stench and hurly-burly rowdiness of the town at that time which, by all accounts, were pretty extreme.
The museum also has many old photographs from the tin era. This one shows Chinese coolies at work.
The museum cost 50 million baht and was originally supposed to open two years ago, but it hasn’t, officially. Ads a result it doesn’t appear in the literature and websites about tourist attractions in Phuket including – would you believe – the official Tourism Authority of Thailand website.
But it’s still definitely worth going to, especially when, as now, the weather can be wet, making a day on the beach unattractive. And because it’s not officially open, there’s no fee for going in. Now that’s a deal.
To get there, turn off Thepkrasattree Rd (going north) between the bypass road junction and the Boat Lagoon entrance and go past the British International School. About a mile further on is the entrance. You can’t miss it – a very imposing gateway on the left, in the middle of the countryside.
There’s a web page in Thai here or you can contact the museum by calling +66 8647 07767 or by email.
Was planning to take another look soon to see if it was finished. Went there well over a year ago and took a brochure. Last time I drove up that road the front gate was shut. The road is so quiet and rarely used except by locals looking for a shortcut or by BIS parents! Well, now will go again and see what there is to see!
Museum construction was completed but the place was deserted. I like it though and the curator was a nice devoted lady. Yes make a few rounds before we could find it.
Well at last there is a sign telling you what the mysterious building is, they are now making major landscaping work in front and that will be a better landmark. As Jamie mentions this road is very quiet except at 8am when everyone is taking their children to the British International School. The road is in need of repair and drivers should take care on this winding road. All said I hope this museum is a success as Phuket has little in the way of historic tourist attractions, but it will need good advertising as there is little in the way of ‘passing trade’. One tip – take a picnic and drive on to the lake near BIS for a peaceful location.