From a saltworks to an international supplier of raw materials

MAGNESIA GmbH is an inter­na­tio­nal­ly active dis­tri­bu­tor and sup­pli­er of magne­si­um, calcium, and other mineral com­pounds.

For over 40 years, we have been syn­ony­mous with high-quality raw mate­ri­als, first-class per­so­na­li­zed con­sul­ting, seam­less docu­ment manage­ment, and high cus­to­mer satis­fac­tion. We supply our cus­to­mers in the life sci­en­ces and indus­tri­al sectors quickly, relia­bly, and world­wi­de—while, of course, adhe­ring to all neces­sa­ry quality and import stan­dards.

MAGNESIA GmbH was founded in 1983 by Wolf­gang Born­mann, the last mana­ging direc­tor of Saline Lüne­burg und Che­mi­sche Fabrik GmbH. Fol­lo­wing the closure of the salt pro­duc­tion ope­ra­ti­ons and the winding down of the incre­asing­ly unpro­fi­ta­ble saline works, he pursued the goal of con­ti­nuing the suc­cessful trading busi­ness in mineral raw mate­ri­als—par­ti­cu­lar­ly magne­si­um and calcium com­pounds. With the foun­da­ti­on of MAGNESIA GmbH, he laid the ground­work for a company that has since estab­lished itself as an inter­na­tio­nal­ly suc­cessful sup­pli­er.

In 2023, MAGNESIA GmbH cele­bra­ted its 40th anni­ver­sa­ry—a mile­stone that sym­bo­li­zes con­ti­nui­ty, expe­ri­ence, and sus­tainable growth.

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. 

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Mission and Vision

A clear mission and a strong vision for sus­tainable raw mate­ri­als and future-proof solutions.

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Cor­po­ra­te Social Responsibility

High-quality edu­ca­ti­on, gender equa­li­ty, and climate action. Our sus­taina­bi­li­ty stra­tegy at a glance!

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Contact person

Your point of contact for all areas—personal, know­led­geable, and solution-oriented.

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Image sources: “40 Years of MAGNESIA”

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

MAGNESIA GmbH

Max-Jenne-Straße 2–4
Industriegebiet Ost
21337 Lüneburg, Germany

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