There are precious minerals besides gold that investors are after in Bau, known as the gold town of Sarawak and situated some 20km to the west of Kuching, the state capital.

A report in Australia's Gold Mining Journal mentioned diamond as well, with exploration work by the Australian mining company Menzies Gold NL said to involve "deep diamond drilling beneath the Jugan and Pejiru ore zones, as well as detailed sampling and trenching at Skiat-Jebong".

It said that at Pejiru, a 500m diamond drill hole was started to test structures beneath the ore zone. According to the report, the hole was pre-collared to 96m and HQ diamond drilling began from that depth.

As part of the Bau regional reconnaissance work, a 1km square grid had been established immediately west and south of the Pejiru resource, the Gold Mining Journal said on its report on Menzies Gold NL's Bau project.

It said a new era of mineralisation had been discovered in Bau.

The new area was discovered at Sirenggok, which returned random rock chip results up to 8.53 frams/tonne from the surface in the area of no previous drilling.

Menzies Gold is nine per cent owned by Cameco Corporation, one of the largest mining exploration companies in the world, and has exploration interests across Southeast Asia.

Its primary assets is a 55 per cent interest in the Bau goldfield with two deposits discovered in Pejiru and Jugan estimated to contain resources of 500,000 and 600,000 ounces respectively.

Information sourced from the internet said Menzies Gold has a 55 per cent interest in a further five mining tenements (leases) covered by the Sarawak region.

'Gold is everywhere'

Bau, one of the oldest-established large trading centres in Sarawak outside of the main towns, has been in the news lately after an announcement by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud that the town (pop: about 4000) will be relocated to a new site about 6km to the west and nearer the new highway linking Kuching and Lundu.

Expectedly, the announcement received negative responses from many town-folks, including its two government-appointed Chinese community chiefs.

Many believe they are being asked to make way to mining activities as large gold and other mineral deposits are confirmed to be lying underneath the town area and beyond.

But Wilfred Nisson, a political secretary to the chief minister and a Bidayuh from Bau, pooh-poohed the suggestion, saying flooding was a more plausible reason and that talk about gold being the reason was mere speculation.

An internet website on Bau quoted an experienced old miner in Bau as having said: "Gold is found everywhere in Bau. It is only a question of grade."

Commercial development

Gold and other mineral deposits in the Bau area had been mined for at least 170 years, since the first group of Chinese migrants from West Kalimantan arrived and settled in Bau at the beginning of the 19th century.

For many years after that, an English company Borneo Company worked the mines and took out an estimated 700,000 ounces of gold. It ceased operations in 1921.

Chinese miners worked the tailings of the Borneo Company mines in the 1930s and 1940s.

"With the increase of gold production from 5,030 grams valued at $160,504 in 1983 to 315 kilograms valued at $11.5 million in 1987, it is evident that history may repeat itself at least for one more time," the internet report said.

Malaysiakini learnt that a Kuching-based public-listed company has recently acquired large plots of town land in Bau for commercial development.

A bumiputra contractor who asked not to be named said as part of the apparently gradual relocation town, the Kampung Melayu Bau at the fringe of the town would move to the new site at Batu Empat near the Bau/Lundu/Kuching crossroad and the kampung land as well as adjoining lands recently acquired would come under commercial development.

The Malay penghulu is said to have obtained the agreement of some 100 households to resettle at the new site with compensation being paid in more than one forms.

Also to be resettled will be about 60 squatters on state land around the Bau Lake and compensation comes from the company that is to put up new shophouses in Bau.

However, about 16 Chinese families staying on their own lands on the town's fringe near the new district police station are said to have spurned offers from certain individuals.

Convinced of gold deposits

A local politician told malaysiakini that he had been informed that some people had wanted to buy their land but the Chinese owners had so far not said 'yes' as they know it is worth much more because of the large gold deposits they have been told are present underneath their properties.

A Chinese family with a three-acre plot of land near the Fairy Caves a short distance away from Bau town has started exploration work for gold.

"They are convinced about the presence of gold deposits and have brought equipment to the site to start work and are confident it will be a profitable venture," the Bidayuh politician said.

Meanwhile, information made available to malaysiakini says a Perth-based public-listed company Preston Resources Ltd had reached agreement to acquire the entire issued capital of a Malaysian company Oriental Peninsula Gold, which has the rights to undertake feasibility study, over a period of 3 years, to earn equity in the Bau project.

Preston is a nickel company and internet listing on the company reveals little information other than that its managing director is Adrian Griffin with a Perth address.

It is also not known whether Menzies Gold is in any way connected with Oriental Peninsula Gold. It is learnt, however, that Oriental is a KL-registered company with nine directors/shareholders, including three directors - two bumiputras and one Chinese from Peninsular Malaysia.

The rest all bumiputras and said to be closely connected or related to a powerful political group in Sarawak are from the state.