Today, some 2330 years later, the Khewra salt mines are the second largest in the world — behind the Sifto Canada, Inc., salt mine in Goderich, Ontario — turning out 325,000 tons of salt per year, and an estimated 220 million tons over its lifetime. This is barely even a dent in the massive salt stores here, which are said to be 6.687 billion tons. Officially, salt mining wasn’t recorded until the 1200s under the Janjua-Raja’ tribe, but salt has probably been mined and traded here since Alexander’s time.
Covering an area of 110 sq. km, 228 meters or 748 feet deep (with 11 separate stories), the massive mine has over 40 kilometers of tunnels running some 730 meters, or nearly half a mile into the mountain under which the salt deposits are found. To keep the huge space from collapsing in on itself, only fifty percent of the salt found is mined; the other half serves as support columns to hold up the mine. With such a massive area, a large workforce, and the ease of carving and building with salt bricks, some interesting sights have been built within the salt mine.
Among the earliest structure built within the mine is the small Badshahi Mosque, complete with a small salt minaret. Built more recently, specifically to attract tourists, are small salt versions of the Great Wall of China, the Mall road of Murree, Lahore’s Shimla hill, and the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. Both the mosque and the miniatures are built from salt bricks, which vary in color from red to pink to white, and which are now lighted electrically and radiate a beautiful warm glow. At times, the many colors and bricks of light give the mine a sort of disco-Yellow-Brick-Road look.