1
general::
Phrase(s): back to the salt mines
Cliché time to return to work, school, or something else that might be unpleasant. (The phrase implies that the speaker is a slave who works in the salt mines.) • It’s one o’clock and lunch break is over. Back to the salt mines. • School starts in the fall, so then it’s back to the salt mines again.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Resume work, usually with some reluctance, as in With my slavedriver of a boss, even on Saturdays it's back to the salt mines. This term alludes to the Russian practice of punishing prisoners by sending them to work in the salt mines of Siberia. Today the term is only used ironically. [Late 1800s] Also see KEEP ONE'S NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE.
American Heritage Idioms