Tin mining

Friday, 15 February 2013
Pela Mampang, Jakarta

A few weeks ago we went for a long weekend trip to Belitung, a relatively large island east of Sumatra. We rented a car, and one of the days (26 January), when I and CME were driving on a small gravel road, we stumbled across some tin mining activity along the way. The tin is extracted by using a lot of water to pump it up from the ground. The heavy tin will sink to the bottom as a residue, while the lighter solids are washed away together with the water.

Tin mining.

Tin mining.

Tin residue.

Equipment used to pump water and tin from the ground.

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