Pahang’s bauxite fast running out

PETALING JAYA: It won’t be long before Pahang’s bauxite boom goes bust, as rampant mining of the valuable ore could strip the state bare of its reserves within the next few years.

According to the latest figures from the Minerals and Geoscience Department, Pahang has the country’s biggest estimated reserves of bauxite totalling 80.2 million tonnes. However, there are reported estimates that up to 20 million tonnes may have been mined in 2015, meaning Pahang could exhaust its reserves roughly four or five years from now.