MAGNESITAS NAVARRAS SA

Their core work

Magnesitas Navarras is a Spanish magnesite mining and mineral processing company based in Navarra. Their core business revolves around extracting and refining magnesium-based minerals, which positions them at the intersection of raw materials, energy-intensive industry, and environmental sustainability. In H2020 projects, they contribute industrial-scale expertise in mineral processing, energy management in heavy industry, and recovery of critical raw materials through biological and flotation-based methods. They serve as a real-world industrial testbed for technologies aimed at making mineral extraction cleaner and more resource-efficient.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Magnesitas Navarras entered H2020 in 2018 with a focus on internal process optimization — energy management, waste heat recovery, and off-gas valorisation through BAMBOO. By 2019, their involvement shifted toward upstream resource challenges: extracting value from fine-grained mineral deposits (FineFuture) and biologically recovering critical raw materials (BIORECOVER). This progression suggests a company moving from "how do we run our operations more efficiently" to "how do we access new and harder-to-reach mineral resources sustainably."

Moving toward sustainable sourcing of critical raw materials, aligning with EU strategic autonomy priorities — a strong fit for future CRM-related consortia.

How they like to work

Magnesitas Navarras exclusively participates as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, which is typical for industrial companies contributing domain expertise and real-world testing environments rather than managing research agendas. Across just 3 projects they have worked with 48 unique partners in 17 countries, indicating they join large, international consortia. This profile suggests they are valued as an industrial end-user and demonstration site rather than a research driver.

Despite only three projects, they have built a broad network of 48 partners across 17 countries, reflecting their participation in large-scale Research and Innovation Actions. Their network spans across Europe with no narrow geographic clustering.

What sets them apart

Magnesitas Navarras offers something rare in EU consortia: a large, operational magnesite mining and processing facility willing to serve as an industrial testing ground. Companies and research groups developing new mineral processing, flotation, or critical raw materials recovery technologies can validate their work against a real production environment. Their combination of mining operations with active R&D engagement in both energy efficiency and resource recovery makes them a practical bridge between laboratory research and industrial deployment.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BIORECOVER
  Largest single grant (EUR 342,062) focused on biological recovery of critical raw materials — directly aligned with EU strategic priorities on resource independence.
• FineFuture
  Addresses a fundamental challenge in mineral processing — unlocking fine-grained deposits that conventional flotation cannot efficiently recover.