The Mines Shopping Mall is a shopping centre located within Mines Wellness City in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, approximately 15 km south of Kuala Lumpur city centre.
The mall is the retail anchor of what was originally developed as Mines Resort City, an integrated resort township envisioned to combine tourism, hospitality, recreation, and commerce around a spectacularly unlikely foundation: the Hong Fatt Mine, once the largest open cast tin mine in the world.
What makes The Mines Shopping Mall truly unique among Klang Valley shopping centres is its setting.
The mall is built alongside a vast man-made lake — the former mining pool — creating a waterfront retail experience that few of its competitors can match.
Across the lake stands the Palace of the Golden Horses, a five-star hotel designed in a daring horseshoe shape with a golden palatial façade, while the mall itself sits as a more grounded, functional retail counterpoint to the resort ambitions of the broader development.
This is a mall whose story is inseparable from the mining history beneath its foundations.
The Hong Fatt Mine
The World’s Largest Open Cast Tin Mine
Before there was a shopping mall, there was the Hong Fatt Mine — the world’s largest open cast tin mine, covering an extraordinary 1,300 acres (530 hectares).
The mine’s vast, deep excavation created the man-made lake that now forms the centrepiece of Mines Wellness City.
The name “Tronoh Mines” — still used by locals for the shopping mall — is a direct reference to Perak’s Tronoh mining district, from which the mine’s operators originated.
On 30 March 1988, the Malaysian Government alienated the land to Country Heights Holdings Bhd (CHHB), a company founded by Tan Sri Dato’ Paduka Lee Kim Yew and incorporated on 10 May 1984 as Kurniata Sdn Bhd.
The land was granted specifically for recreational and tourism purposes, setting the stage for the development of Mines Resort City — a vision of a resort township built around the repurposed mining lake.
The Mines Resort City
The Wellness Transformation
Mines Resort City was established in 1988 as an integrated resort township encompassing a five-star hotel, a beach resort, a golf club, an exhibition centre, and The Mines Shopping Mall. The centrepiece was the Palace of the Golden Horses — a luxury hotel with a striking curved façade that became an architectural landmark.
The Mines Beach Resort and Spa added a man-made beach and swimming lagoon to the resort complex.
In January 2011, the development was reimagined as Mines Wellness City, an integrated health and wellness resort township, announced by then-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as part of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
The vision was a RM 5.5 billion development that would make the site “the foremost wellness destination in the country.”
The resort became more healthcare-oriented, with the addition of Golden Horses Health Sanctuary, health screening centres, and traditional Chinese medicine facilities.
The complete development today comprises an impressive roll-call of components:
- 🏨 Palace of the Golden Horses (5-star hotel)
- 🏖️ Mines Beach Resort Hotel & Wellness
- 🛍️ The Mines Shopping Mall
- 🏥 Golden Horses Health Sanctuary
- 🏌️ Mines Resort & Golf Club
- 🎪 MIECC (Exhibition Convention Centre)
- 📚 Australian International School Malaysia
- 🏢 Mines Waterfront Business Park
- 🏡 The Heritage Residences & Retail
- 🌿 Philea Wellness Retreat
The Shopping Mall
CapitaMalls Asia Rebrand & Modernisation
The Mines Shopping Mall itself underwent a significant transformation in March 2010, when CapitaMalls Asia (now CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust) re-branded it from “Mines Shopping Fair” to a contemporary neighbourhood shopping mall.
The upgrade included major renovation works: additional retail space, a revamped car park system, new washrooms, additional link bridges, and new sets of escalators throughout the mall.
This investment by one of Asia’s largest mall operators — CapitaLand’s regional mall arm — speaks to The Mines’ strategic position in Seri Kembangan’s rapidly growing catchment.
The mall serves a population that has expanded dramatically since the 1990s, driven by the growth of Seri Kembangan itself, as well as proximity to Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, and the broader southern Klang Valley corridor.
The mall is multi-level with a practical, family-oriented retail mix that includes fashion, electronics, F&B, a supermarket, and service-oriented tenants.
Its lakefront location means that several F&B outlets offer waterside dining with views across the lake to the Palace of the Golden Horses — an amenity that gives the mall a relaxed, resort-like character not found in the typical suburban shopping centre.
Mines Wonderland
The Lost Theme Park (1997–2011)
No account of The Mines Shopping Mall is complete without mentioning Mines Wonderland, the water theme park that operated between 1997 and 2011 within the Mines Resort City complex.
For over a decade, Mines Wonderland was a major weekend attraction for families from across the Klang Valley, offering water slides, wave pools, and a man-made beach that complemented the Mines Beach Resort’s lagoon.
The park’s closure in 2011 marked the end of an era — but the memory lingers among those who grew up visiting it in the 1990s and 2000s.
🎡 Mines Wonderland (1997–2011)
A water theme park with slides, wave pools, and a man-made beach.
The Seri Kembangan Context
🌳 Seri Kembangan — From New Village to Southern Gateway
Seri Kembangan (also known as Serdang) has a rich history. Founded as the Serdang New Village in 1950 during the Malayan Emergency, it was a resettlement area for Chinese villagers under the British Briggs Plan.
Starting with just 50 houses, it has grown to a population of 130,252 (2020), predominantly Chinese (57%) with significant Malay (21%) and Indian (6%) communities.
Today Seri Kembangan sits at the intersection of three tolled highways — the North–South Expressway Southern Route, the Sungai Besi Expressway, and the East-West Link Expressway — making it the southern gateway into Kuala Lumpur for motorists from Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, and Johor.
The town is represented in parliament by Yeo Bee Yin (Puchong, DAP), with Wong Siew Ki (DAP) as the Seri Kembangan state assemblyman.
It is a major street food destination, known for its Monday and Friday night markets.
Connectivity & Accessibility
★ KTM Komuter
The Serdang Komuter station (KTM Port Klang Line) is the nearest rail connection, approximately a 10-minute walk across the overhead bridge.
The KLIA Express tracks run parallel to the KTM line nearby but do not stop at Serdang.
★ By Road
The Besraya Expressway (E9) is the most direct route into Tronoh Mines / Shopping Mall.
At the southern boundary, Besraya interchanges with the Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (SILK, E18).
The PLUS Expressway Southern Route is also nearby as Seri Kembangan (via the Sungai Besi and East-West Link interchanges) sits at the southern gateway into KL.
★ Bus
Multiple RapidKL routes serve the mall — Bus 590 from Lebuh Pudu hub via Jalan Chan Sow Lin, Sungai Besi Expressway, SILK, and Jalan Sungai Long to Hab UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman) Sungai Long Campus.
MRT feeder buses T565 (Serdang Jaya MRT ↔ Taman Sungai Besi Indah), T569 (Serdang Jaya MRT ↔ Batu 11 Cheras MRT, introduced 25 Sep 2023), and T571 (Serdang railway station ↔ Taman Sri Pulai) also serve the mall.
Bus stops SJ640 (The Mines) and SJ598 (The Mines Opp) serve routes 590, T565, T569, and T571.
Key Facts at a Glance
| Address | Mines Wellness City, Seri Kembangan, 43300 Selangor |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 3°02′24″N 101°43′00″E |
| Developer | Country Heights Holdings Bhd (CHHB) — Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew |
| Land Alienated | 30 March 1988 (Government to CHHB for recreation/tourism) |
| Original Mine | Hong Fatt Mine — world’s largest open cast tin mine (1,300 acres / 530 ha) |
| Original Development | Mines Resort City (est. 1988) |
| Rebranding & Upgrade | March 2010 — CapitaMalls Asia re-branded as contemporary neighbourhood mall |
| Wellness Transformation | 11 January 2011 — PM Najib launched Mines Wellness City (RM 5.5 billion ETP project) |
| Former Theme Park | Mines Wonderland (1997–2011) |
| Nearest Rail | Serdang KTM Komuter Station (10-min walk) |
| Expressways | Besraya (E9) · SILK (E18) · PLUS · Sg. Besi (E9) · East-West Link (E34) |
| Bus Routes | 590, T565, T569, T571 |
| Major Component | Palace of the Golden Horses hotel, MIECC, Mines Golf Club, AISM |
| Wesite | the-mines.com.my |
Conclusion
The Mines Shopping Mall occupies a place in the Klang Valley’s retail geography that is entirely its own.
It is neither a mega-mall seeking to out-scale its competitors, nor a humble neighbourhood centre.
It is a shopping mall built on the site of the world’s largest open cast tin mine — a piece of Malaysia’s industrial heritage transformed, over three decades, into a lakeside resort-and-retail destination.
Sitting within the broader Mines Wellness City — once Mines Resort City, now a RM 5.5 billion health-and-wellness township — the mall benefits from a unique ecosystem: the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel, the Mines Beach Resort, the MIECC convention centre, the Mines Golf Club, and the Australian International School.
Its 2010 renovation by CapitaMalls Asia — an investment by one of Asia’s largest retail landlords — confirmed the mall’s strategic value in serving the fast-growing southern Klang Valley corridor.
From the tin mining history beneath its foundations to the Mines Wonderland water park that defined childhoods in the 1990s, from the man-made lake that gives it a waterfront character to the bus routes that connect it to Serdang Jaya MRT and beyond — The Mines Shopping Mall is a layered, complex landmark that defies easy categorisation. It is a mall shaped by mining, transformed by resort ambition, and now re-emerging as a node in one of Malaysia’s most ambitious wellness city projects.
There is nothing quite like it in Klang Valley retail.