Khewra Salt Mine | Everything You Need To Know | Ticket Price And Many More

The second-largest salt mine in the world and the largest in Pakistan is Khewra. It is located in the Jhelum District’s Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil. It is accessible from Islamabad and Lahore via the M2 highway, about 30 km (20 mi) off the Lilla interchange while traveling on the Lilla road toward Pind Dadan Khan. The mine, which receives up to 250,000 visitors annually and is well-known for producing pink Khewra salt, is a popular tourist destination. In 2007, a clinical ward with 20 beds was established for the use of salt therapy in the treatment of asthma and other respiratory diseases.

The Khewra Salt Mines Railway transports visitors inside the mine. Inside, there are a lot of salty water pools. About fifty years ago, the Badshahi Masjid was constructed in the mine tunnels using salt bricks in various colors. A replica of the Minar-e-Pakistan, a statue of Allama Iqbal, a cluster of crystals forming the name of Muhammad in Urdu script, a model of the Great Wall of China, and another of the Mall Road of Murree are among the other artistic carvings found in the mine. There were two stages to the development of tourist facilities and attractions in 2003.

Other tourist attractions in the mine include the Assembly Hall, which is 75 meters (245 feet) high, Pul-Saraat, an unsupported salt bridge over an 80-foot-deep brine pond, Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors), and a café. Salt crystals in Sheesh Mahal are light pink.

The mine is located in salt range mountains, a system of mountains rich in minerals that stretch for about 200 km from the Jhelum River south of the Pothohar Plateau to where the Jhelum River merges with the Indus River. About 730 meters (2400 feet) into the mountain from the mine entrance, Khewra Mine is located at an elevation of 288 meters (945 feet) above sea level. The underground mine spans a 110 km2 area (43 sq. miles).

Under British rule in 1872, mining engineer Dr. H. Warth created the main tunnel at ground level. The mine, which continues to be Pakistan’s main source of salt and produces more than 350,000 tons of roughly 99% pure halite annually, was taken over by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation after the country gained its independence. The tunnel should continue to function at this rate for an additional 350 years. The mine’s salt reserves have been estimated to be between 82 million and 600 million tons.

The Salt Range Formation’s thick layer of heavily faulted, stretched, and folded Ediacaran to early Cambrian evaporites is the base of the Khewra Salt Mine. A layer of crystalline halite at the base of this geological formation is intercalated with potash salts. Gypsiferous marl lies on top of this base layer, which is then covered by interlayered beds of gypsum and dolomite with sporadic seams of oil shale. These strata are covered by Neoproterozoic to Eocene sedimentary rocks that range in thickness from 200 to 500 meters (660 to 1,640 feet), and which, along with the Salt Range Formation, were uplifted and eroded to form the Salt Range at the southern edge of the Pothohar Plateau.

By being thrust southward over Neoproterozoic to Eocene sedimentary rocks by many kilometers, the Ediacaran to early Cambrian evaporites of the Salt Range Formation tectonically incorporated pieces of the underlying younger strata. The Salt Range is the southernmost extension of the Pothohar Plateau’s well-described fold-and-thrust belt, which was formed south of the Himalayas and underlies the entire plateau.

The ages of the Salt Range Formation and its exposed salt layers in the Khewra Salt Mine have been inferred using paleomorphs, or organic microfossils. For instance, Birbal Sahni reported finding evidence of angiosperms, gymnosperms, and insects inside the mine while working with the Geological Survey of India in the 1930s and 1940s. He believed these organisms to be from the Eocene epoch. However, later research came to the conclusion that these palynomorphs were contaminants on the basis of additional geologic information.

When Alexander the Great traveled through the Jhelum and Mianwali region during his Indian campaign, he came across the salt deposits at Khewra. However, the horses of Alexander’s army, who were observed licking the stones, were the ones who actually found the mine, not he or his allies. After licking the rock salt stones, his army’s sick horses also made a full recovery. Salt was traded during the Mughal era in many markets, even those in Central Asia. Sikhs seized control of the mine after the fall of the Mughal empire.

The British continued to develop the mine in 1872, sometime after seizing the Sikhs’ territory. They discovered that the mining had been inefficient, with crooked and narrow tunnels and entrances that made laborers’ movement challenging and hazardous. There was little water available inside the mine, and there was nowhere to store the extracted salt. The only route to the mine passed through a challenging, rocky landscape. In order to solve these issues, the government leveled the road, constructed warehouses, installed a water supply, enhanced the entrances and tunnels, and improved the method for salt excavation. To prevent the smuggling of salt, penalties were implemented.

In 1971, the Mine Survey Institute was established in Khewra by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation. The institute has established the Khewra Model High School and the Khewra Women’s College in addition to conducting mine surveys and planning mining-related courses for the miners. In a significant environmental case against the mining company for the provision of clean drinking water, the miners prevailed. The salt, coal, and other nearby mining activities had contaminated the water that the people of Khewra could access. Regarding the interrelationship between people and the environment, this case is acknowledged on a global scale as significant.

Listed Below Are The Khewra Mines’ Current Ticket Prices:

Khewra Salt Mine