PHUKET'S MINING HISTORY

I hadn't realized before today the extent of Phuket's history of tin mining.  There was an article in the Gazette about the building of a new museum in Kathu to educate tourists and residents about this history, which lasted about 200 years until 1985.  These two paragraphs really brought it home to me:

Two decades later, few island residents know much about Phuket’s tin mining past, even though evidence of it is all around us: in the scores of abandoned tin mines that many people mistake as natural ponds and lakes.

In fact, there are no naturally-occurring bodies of water in Phuket – they are all former tin mines. Considering this fact gives one an idea of just how expansive the tin mining industry once was here.

The island is, thus, riddled with old mines as you see these ponds and lakes everywhere.  It also makes this line from an ad by the Phuket Radio Flying Club a little ridiculous:  "We fly models everyday from 1600-1830 on West Chaofa Road at the old tin mine."  Well, that narrows it down!