Pakistan, Nov. 15 -- Pakistan's next opportunity in battery technology may lie in a mineral we have known for centuries. At Khewra, visitors marvel at the pink salt that has become one of the country's most recognisable natural products. Less celebrated is the fact that the same town has been home to an industrial soda ash plant since 1944. As Pakistan prepares to welcome investors to the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026, this combination of mineral wealth and chemical manufacturing raises an intriguing question: could our abundant salt help Pakistan enter the emerging sodium-ion battery industry?

The idea is more credible than it might initially sound. Sodium-ion batteries are attracting increasing international attention as an a...