Khewra: Asia’s Oldest Salt Mine Continues Old Traditions

At Asia’s oldest salt mine, the march of technology stopped generations ago. Bare-chested laborers use hand-cranked drills and gunpowder to blast away the pink and orange-colored rock crystal, lucky if they earn a couple of dollars a day. The mineral wealth of Pakistan’s craggy Salt Range has been exploited for centuries by rulers from Alexander the Great to the British colonialists of the last century. But as the economic importance of salt has dwindled, so has progress. The vast and ancient Khewra mine 80 miles south of Islamabad is…