Sungai Lembing was formerly a tin mining town 42km northwest of Kuantan. Lembing is Malay for spear, and "sungai" means river. According to a story as told by local folks, a local chief saw a vision of a spear in the nearby river and thus named the place Sungai Lembing. Until the 1970s, Sungai Lembing was a major producer of underground tin. Sg Lembing town developed in the 1880's when the British set up the tin mining industry, although the history of mining in this area is earlier than that. From 1891, the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited, (PCCL), which was under British control, had a 77-year lease to mine the area. PCCL managed the mine from 1906 until its liquidation in 1986 following the collapse of world tin prices. The pit mines were closed in the same year due to high operational costs and low yields, but during its heydays it was among the largest and deepest in the world. The total tunnel length is 322 km, with a depth of between 610 m and 700 m. The Sungai Lembing  Museum, converted from the old mine manager's bungalow, sits on the hill overlooking the settlement. The museum showcases everything about the mine. Today, the town of Sg Lembing is just a sleepy hollow although it was once the richest town in Pahang, so much so that it was nicknamed 'El Dorado' of the East. In the 1940's about 1400 people worked in the mine. The town straddles the river, and the main street on the right bank is still divided by a row of huge raintrees. At the end, an old wooden building sits across the community field where cricked used to be played by the British expatriates.

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