Bau is a gold
mining town,
["Preston buying into Sarawak goldmine" ''Sydney Morning Herald'' 16 July 2002;] capital of
Bau district in the
Kuching Division
Kuching Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions in Sarawak, Malaysia. Formerly part of what was called the "First Division", it is the center and the starting point of modern Sarawak. Kuching Division has a total area of 4,559.5 ...
of
Sarawak,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
History
On 1 May 1837, the
Skrang Ibans invaded the Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh settlement on top of Bratak Peak, killing over 2,000 Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh men and taking 1,000 women captive. Panglima Kulow, head of Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh community, and a handful of his followers survived the massacre. In 1841
James Brooke
Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.
Brooke was b ...
, who was then the newly installed White Rajah of Sarawak, was able to rescue some of the women taken captive. Each year on 1 May, descendants of the survivors of the 1837 massacre hold Jagoi-Bratak Day on top of Bratak Peak in Bau in memory of their ancestors. A memorial stone was erected on 1 May 1988, to mark the day.
Gold mining
The gold deposits in Bau Township occur in the Jugan Hills in marine sedimentary rocks of late
Jurassic to early
Cretaceous age, primarily limestone.
The gold comes from
hydrothermal sources activated by local
volcanism.
The gold is found in four distinct configurations: disseminated throughout the mineralized sediments; as silica replacement; in breccias having magno-calcite quartz veining; and occasionally as porphyritic
skarn
Skarns or tactites are hard, coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by a process called metasomatism. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminium silicate minerals, which are also referred to as calc-silicate mineral ...
s.
Gold began being mined in Bau in the 1840s. It was discovered by Chinese miners from
Pangkalan Tebang.
[Kaur, Amarjit (February 1995) "The Babbling Brookes: Economic Change in Sarawak 1841-1941" ''Modern Asian Studies'' 29(1): pp. 65-109, p.73] After the Chinese uprising by
Liu Shan Bang in 1857, the mining operations were gradually taken over by ''
The Borneo Company'' with the last Chinese syndicate being bought out in 1884.
In 1898, ''The Borneo Company'' introduced the cyanide process for extracting the gold,
which led to increased environmental pollution. The mines were closed in 1921 because most of the minerals, easily reachable by existing techniques, had been removed. But during the
Great Depression Chinese miners continued to
artisanally mine the deposits. The mines were reopened in the late 1970s when world gold prices soared, but were closed down again in 1996 when the Asian financial crisis started. The last mining occurred at the Tai Parit open-pit mine.
In 2002, Preston Resources began exploratory development of the mining leases formerly held by Malaysia's Oriental Peninsula Gold (now Peninsula Gold Ltd.).
In 2006, Zedex Minerals purchased a controlling interest in the exploratory leases. Zedex was primarily concerned with determining the extent and richness of the remaining Jugan gold deposits, but it also assayed the old
tailings at the Bukit Young Gold Mine site for potential reprocessing.
In 2009 Zedex was merged into Olympus Pacific Minerals. As of 2014, the mining rights were held by North Borneo Gold, a joint venture of Besra Gold (aka Olympus Pacific Minerals), Golden Celesta and Gladioli Enterprises, a Malaysian mining group.
, the mines have not reopened.
Ecology
The
limestone cliffs in the area support a wide range of
endemic flora, including the rare
pitcher plant ''
Nepenthes northiana
''Nepenthes northiana'' , or Miss North's pitcher-plant,Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. ''Pitcher-Plants of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it grows at elevations ...
''.
Schools
Primary school
*SK Tringgus
*SK Tembawang
*SK Sungai Pinang
*SK Suba Buan
*SK Stass
*SK St Teresa (M)
*SK St Stephen (M)
*SK St Patrick (M)
*SK St John (M)
*SK Skibang
*SK Siniawan
*SK Simpang Kuda
*SK Serumbu
*SK Serasot
*SK Serabak
*SK Senibong
*SK Segubang
*SK Segong
*SK Sebobok
*SK Puak
*SK Podam
*SK Pedaun Bawah
*SK Opar
*SK Kampung Bobak/Sejinjang
*SK Jagoi
*SK Gumbang
*SK Grogo
*SK Buso
*SK Bau
*SK Atas
*SK Apar
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Tondong
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Taiton
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Siniawan
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Sebuku
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Paku
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Musi
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Kranji
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Buso
*SJK (C) Chung Hua Bau
Secondary schools
*SMK Paku (S)
*SMK Lake
*SMK Bau
*SMK Singai (open on 25 June 2018 as the 4th secondary school in Bau District)
Transportation
Local Bus
Attractions and recreational spots
In 2022, Roxy Tasik Biru Resort City was opened to public. It is equipped with a floating bridge, fountain, chalets, a café, and a boat ride service.
Notable people from Bau
*
Pandelela Rinong, 2012 Olympic medallist for diving, 2016 Olympic medallist for diving, Bidayuh girl from Kampung Jugan, Bau.
Notes
{{Sarawak
Bau District
Towns in Sarawak