Khewra Salt Mines, Punjab, Pakistan about 160 kilometers from Islamabad and 260 kilometers from Lahore. It attracts up to 40,000 visitors per year and is the second largest salt mine in the world Situated at the foothills of the Salt Range. Khewra Salt Mines are the oldest in the salt mining history of the sub-continent.
Salt has been mined at Khewra since 320 BC, in
an underground area of about 110 sq. km. Khewra salt mine has estimated total
of 220 million tones of rock salt deposits. The
total production estimates of all the mines of Pakistan are estimated at around 1.8
Million tons annually.
The mine-head buildings
have 17 stories, with 11 below ground. The salt-mine is 945 feet above sea
level and extends around 2,400 feet inside the earth from the mine-mouth. There
are 17 working levels and the cumulative length of all tunnels is more than 40
km.
Salt occurs in the form of an irregular dome like structure. There are seven thick salt seams with a cumulative thickness of about 150 meters.
At places the rock salt is 99% pure, it contains 84 minerals in a form that can be easily assimilated and metabolized by the body. Salt is transparent, white, pink, reddish to beef-color red. There are beautiful alternate band of red and white color salt.
