Khewra Salt Mine's history is usually told through one legend: that Alexander the Great's army found the salt when their horses stopped to lick the rocks. What is better documented is that the site became a working salt trade under the Mughals, was reorganised into the mine visitors see today by a German mining engineer in 1872, and has been run since 1974 by the state-owned Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC).
This guide sets out what is legend, what is Mughal and British record, and how the mine actually produces salt now. For ticket prices and opening hours, see our Khewra Salt Mine ticket price guide; for getting there, see how to reach Khewra Salt Mine.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Discovery legend | Alexander's horses licking salt rocks, 4th century BC |
| Commercial trade | Recorded from the Mughal period |
| Modern mine laid out | 1872, by engineer Dr H. Warth |
| State operator since | 1974, Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation |
| Mining method | Room and pillar, about half the salt left as support |
| Tunnel network | Around 40 km, on 19 levels (11 underground) |
| Annual output | Over 350,000 tonnes of rock salt |
The legend of Alexander's horses
The story told at Khewra is that when Alexander the Great's army marched through the region in the 4th century BC, their horses stopped to lick the rocks and were found to be eating salt. There is no contemporary record of Alexander mining at Khewra, and the tale exists in the oral tradition and modern retellings rather than ancient sources. It is worth knowing as the story behind the name, not as verified history.
What can be traced with more confidence is that people in the Salt Range have worked this seam for a very long time, given how visible and usable the rock salt is at the surface in places, and how central salt was to trade across South and Central Asia.
Mughal-era trade
By the Mughal period, salt from the Khewra deposit was being extracted and traded, reportedly reaching markets as far as Central Asia. Mining at this stage was manual: workers cut blocks of salt from exposed seams and galleries with basic tools, and output was small compared with what the mine produces now. This was also the period when salt became a taxed commodity and a source of state revenue in the region, a pattern that continued under the Sikh rulers who controlled the Salt Range after Mughal power declined.
The British era and Dr H. Warth
The mine as visitors know it today, with its main tunnel and galleries, dates from 1872, when the British colonial administration brought in the German mining engineer Dr H. Warth to reorganise extraction. Warth introduced the room-and-pillar method still used at Khewra: salt is cut out in a grid of rooms, while roughly half of it is deliberately left standing as pillars to hold up the rock above. It is a slower way of mining than removing everything, but it is what has kept the tunnels stable for more than 150 years.
Warth is also credited with starting the decorative side of the mine's salt work, using lathes to turn rock salt into ornaments and lamps, a craft that continues in the shops around the mine entrance.
PMDC and the mine today
After independence, the mine continued under government control, and in 1974 it was formally brought under the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, the state body that still operates it. PMDC runs Khewra as both a working mine and a managed tourist site, which is why visitors can walk sections of it on a small train and on foot rather than being kept out of an active industrial operation. Our ticket price guide has current fares and hours for a visit.
Inside the mine: size and layout
Khewra is usually described as the second-largest salt mine in the world, after one in Poland, and Pakistan's largest. Estimates put its tunnel network at around 40 kilometres, spread over 19 levels, of which 11 are underground, reaching several hundred metres into the hillside. Only a small fraction of this is open to visitors; most of the mine remains a working industrial site.
Estimates of the total reserve vary widely between sources, from under 100 million tonnes to several hundred million, which is a reminder that these are geological estimates rather than counted stock. What is measured more precisely is current output, put at over 350,000 tonnes of rock salt a year, extracted at around 99 percent purity.
How salt is extracted now
Modern extraction at Khewra still follows Warth's room-and-pillar layout, but with mechanised drilling and blasting rather than hand tools. Salt is blasted loose from the rock face in controlled charges, loaded and moved out of the tunnels, then crushed, graded and either sold as industrial rock salt or processed further for food and decorative use, including the pink salt lamps and slabs sold at the mine and exported abroad.
Because roughly half the seam is left in place as pillars, the visible mine is really a small, load-bearing skeleton of a much larger deposit. This is also why some of the older, disused sections have been repurposed for the mosque, model buildings and illuminated chambers that make the visitor route distinctive, since they sit inside space that was already excavated decades ago.
What history you can still see on a visit
Walking the tourist section, the clearest link to this history is the room-and-pillar pattern itself: wide salt-walled chambers with columns of solid rock left standing between them, exactly as Warth's method intended. The salt-brick mosque inside the mine and various illuminated salt formations were built well after 1872, using the space the original mining had already opened up, so they are part of the mine's later, PMDC-era history rather than its 19th-century foundation. For the wider area's other historic sites, our Salt Range places to visit guide covers Katas Raj and the region's forts alongside the mine.
Frequently asked questions
Did Alexander the Great really discover Khewra Salt Mine?
There is no contemporary historical record of this. It is a long-standing local legend about how the salt was first noticed, not a documented event, and should be read as the mine's origin story rather than verified history.
Who built the modern Khewra mine?
Its current tunnel layout and room-and-pillar mining method date from 1872, introduced by the German mining engineer Dr H. Warth under British administration.
Who runs Khewra Salt Mine today?
The Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), a state-owned body, has operated the mine since 1974 and manages both its industrial output and its tourist visits.
How old is the salt itself?
The rock salt deposit is geological, formed millions of years ago, and is separate from the question of when people first began mining it. The Mughal-era trade is the earliest well-documented commercial use.
Is Khewra Salt Mine still an active mine, not just a tourist site?
Yes. It produces over 350,000 tonnes of rock salt a year for industrial, food and decorative use, and the visitor route covers only a small, older part of a much larger working mine.
