Salt mine

Salt mine in Wieliczka, in Poland

A salt mine is a mine where salt is taken from the earth. Very often, this is done in the mountains. It is different from a salt evaporation pond, where salt is taken from salt water. Getting salt from different layers of rock in a mountain used to be a very dangerous job. The Romans used to sentence prisoners to this kind of labour.

Usually the salt is mixed with rock that has chlorides and sulfates.

Empty salt mines are used very often as a storage area, for example, for unused radioactive elements (from nuclear power plants). Salt mines are empty if there is no salt left to take, or if taking the salt that is left would be too expensive.

Salt Mine Media

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  Modern rock-salt mine near Mount Morris, New York

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  Diorama of an underground salt mine in Germany.

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  Inside Salina Veche, in Slănic, Prahova, Romania. The railing (lower middle) gives the viewer an idea of scale.

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  The Crystal Valley region of the Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan. With around 250,000 visitors a year, the site is a major tourist attraction.

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  A small mosque made of salt bricks inside the Khewra Salt Mines complex

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  Large hole drilling rig for blast-hole drilling at salt mine Haigerloch-Stetten