40 years of MAGNESIA

Looking back on a long tradition

40 years of MAGNESIA: From a salt works to an international raw materials supplier

MAGNESIA GmbH was foun­ded in 1983 by Mr. Wolf­gang Born­mann, the last mana­ging direc­tor of Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik GmbH. After the sus­pen­si­on of salt mining and the clo­sing down of the incre­asing­ly unpro­fi­ta­ble ope­ra­ti­on of the salt works, Mr. Born­man­n’s mis­si­on was to con­ti­nue the flou­ris­hing busi­ness with the dis­tri­bu­ti­on of mine­ral raw mate­ri­als such as magne­si­um and cal­ci­um com­pounds. He under­took this by foun­ding MAGNESIA GmbH, which is still acti­ve today as an inter­na­tio­nal­ly suc­cessful sup­pli­er of mine­ral raw mate­ri­als. In 2023, we will cele­bra­te 40 years of MAGNESIA. Learn more about our histo­ry below.

956 A.D.

First docu­men­ted men­ti­on of the Lüne­burg salt works (in Ger­man “Sali­ne Lüne­burg”) in a docu­ment of King Otto I.

Until the end of the 16th century

Deve­lo­p­ment of the Sali­ne Lüne­burg into one of the lar­gest salt pro­du­cers in Nor­t­hern Euro­pe and thus a major eco­no­mic fac­tor for Lüneburg.

Sali­ne Lüne­burg around 1598 1

End of the 19th century & beginning of the 20th century

Plan­ning and con­s­truc­tion of the “Che­mi­cal Fac­to­ry” (in Ger­man “Che­mi­sche Fabrik”) as part of the Sali­ne Lüne­burg. The aim is to both stock and dis­tri­bu­te soda ash, sul­fu­ric acid and chlo­ri­na­ted lime. In addi­ti­on, pro­duc­tion of magne­­si­um- and cal­ci­um-sili­­ca­­te-based ther­mal insu­la­ting agents beg­ins under the brand names “Per­Mag” and “Dia­Mag”.

1961

The future mana­ging direc­tor of MAGNESIA GmbH, Mr. Udo Schenk, beg­ins his trai­ning as an indus­tri­al clerk at lat­ley for­med “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik”

1968

The later foun­der of MAGNESIA GmbH, Mr. Wolf­gang Born­mann, joi­n­ed the “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik” as a seni­or employee. He has sin­ce built up a func­tio­ning dis­tri­bu­ti­on busi­ness with magne­si­um and cal­ci­um com­pounds as an alter­na­ti­ve for the incre­asing­ly unpro­fi­ta­ble mining operation.

PDF Ansicht

Pro­duct port­fo­lio of “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik” 2

1969

The mana­ging direc­tor of that time, Mr. Wol­ter, reti­res. He was suc­cee­ded by Mr. Wolf­gang Born­mann, who beca­me then mana­ging direc­tor of “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik”.

1980

Pro­duc­tion of salt at the “Lüne­burg Sali­ne und Che­mi­sche Fabrik” is dis­con­tin­ued due to rising ener­gy cos­ts as a result of the cru­de oil cri­sis. Pro­duc­tion ope­ra­ti­ons, machi­nery and equip­ment, and in some cases buil­dings and land have been liquidated.

Buil­ding of the “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik” in 1983 3

1983

Mr. Wolf­gang Born­mann takes over inven­to­ry, cus­to­mer records as well as exis­ting con­tracts and foun­ded the MAGNESIA on this basis. The share­hol­ders’ agree­ment is final­ly signed in Octo­ber 1983.

PDF Ansicht

Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween Mr. Born­mann and the nota­ry’s office on let­ter paper of the “Sali­ne Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik” regar­ding the foun­ding of MAGNESIA 4

1983 until the 90s

MAGNE­SIA’s first head­quar­ters is the loca­ti­on “Auf der Hude 72”, which later beca­me the ico­nic Lüne­burg dis­co­the­que Gara­ge and is now home to a digi­tal adver­ti­sing com­pa­ny. Due to the com­pany’s growth, the move to the indus­tri­al area Lüne­burg Hafen took place in the 90s.

For­mer com­pa­ny head­quar­ters “Auf der Hude 72” in Lüne­burg 5

2001

Mr. Schenk and Mr. Born­mann re-estab­­lish cont­act with each other. On Janu­ary 1st, 2001, Mr. Schenk is appoin­ted as the second mana­ging direc­tor of MAGNESIA GmbH along­side Mr. Bornmann.

2004 — 2005

Move to the cur­rent loca­ti­on at Max-Jen­­ne-Stra­­ße 2–4 with a 2,000 m² warehouse and the poten­ti­al to expand the office space in the coming years.

Com­pa­ny head­quar­ters in the “Max-Jen­­ne-Stra­­ße” in Lüne­burg in 2010 6

2008

25th com­pa­ny anni­ver­sa­ry with atten­dance of local guests (here the for­mer mayor of Lüne­burg, Mr. Ulrich Mädge) and inter­na­tio­nal cus­to­mers at the com­pany’s head­quar­ters in Lüneburg.

Wolf­gang Born­mann, Ulrich Mädge and Udo Schenk on the 25th anni­ver­sa­ry 7

2010

Mr. Born­mann reti­res. Pre­vious­ly, he sold 100% of his shares in the com­pa­ny to Dr. Rudolf Sei­del, who con­ti­nues to run MAGNESIA as a share­hol­der in the spi­rit of Mr. Born­mann. From now on, howe­ver, Dr. Sei­del lea­ves the stra­te­gic and ope­ra­tio­nal manage­ment to Mr. Schenk, and other Mana­ging Directors.

Micha­el Mett and Dr. Rudolf Sei­del in front of the com­pany’s head­quar­ters 8

Since 2013

In 2013 Mr. Mar­kus Cor­ding and in 2018 Mr. Johann Studt­mann are appoin­ted as mana­ging direc­tors. Both mana­ge MAGNESIA to this day.

Johann Studt­mann and Mar­kus Cor­ding 9

2023

MAGNESIA cele­bra­tes its 40th anni­ver­sa­ry and takes this oppor­tu­ni­ty to explo­re the histo­ry tog­e­ther with the Ger­man Salt Muse­um (Deut­sches Salz­mu­se­um), the Lüne­burg City Archi­ve, the Lüne­burg Media House (publisher of local news­pa­per) and con­tem­po­ra­ry witnesses.

Udo Schenk and Mar­kus Cor­ding hand over to Dr. Alex­an­dra Hent­schel, Direc­tor of the Ger­man Salt Muse­um, pos­si­ble exhi­bits of the salt works peri­od from the MAGNESIA archi­ve 10.

Future

In the coming deca­des, we intend to con­ti­nue pur­suing our visi­on of being one of the lea­ding experts for mine­ral raw mate­ri­als, as well as a pro­vi­der of indi­vi­du­al ser­vices around our portfolio. 

Learn more.

Apply now and become part of MAGNESIA

See all vacancies

1 Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCneburger_Saline
2 Source: MAGNESIA GmbH
3 Pho­to: Bal­zer 2009 – Deut­sches Salz­mu­se­um Indus­trie­denk­mal Sali­ne Lüne­burg
4 Source: MAGNESIA GmbH
5 Pho­to: MAGNESIA GmbH
6 Pho­to: Gun­na Gel­ler
7 Pho­to: Lan­des­zei­tung Lüne­burg / Edith Möl­ler
8 Pho­to: MAGNESIA GmbH
9 Pho­to: Kai-Hen­drik Schroe­der
10 Pho­to: MAGNESIA GmbH

Do you have any questions?
Get in touch!

info@magnesia.de

+49 4131 8710-0

MAGNESIA GmbH
Max-Jenne-Straße 2–4
Industriegebiet Ost

21337 Lüneburg, Germany

Ready to discover MAGNESIA?
Follow us on:

© MAGNESIA GmbH – 2025