Rock solid services
Build on our expertise
Grünig Natursteine is a company that stands for experience, innovation, quality and responsibility. We operate our own quarries with Silberquarzit in Pfitsch, South Tyrol. We offer natural stone products and all related services. Silberquarzit is known internationally for its exceptional properties. Grünig Natursteine has supplied natural stone products for major and renowned projects such as Silberquarzit for the InterContinental Davos resort.
Get advice from our experts
Our employees have worked for the company for many years. They have the experience and expertise needed to plan and implement your project.
Management
Prof. Dr. med. Ekkehard Grünig
Managing Director and Owner
Dr. Martin Schanung
Managing Director
Your contacts for our natural stones
Florian Graus
Plant Management and Sales
Patrick Canal
Sales Management
Administration in Sterzing
Margit Frötscher
Administration
Raffaella Da Col
Administration
How to contact us
The Pfitsch Plant
The plant in Pfitsch is located 1,500 meters above sea level at the Alpenhauptkamm (main Alpine ridge) in the rear Pfitschertal valley. The quarry and the site cover an area of roughly 80,000 square meters. Ten employees mine and process Silberquarzit at the plant. This requires drilling and blasting work, which is executed taking the highest safety precautions with slope protection and under constant geological observation.
The head office in Sterzing
Our administrative unit is located in Sterzing. The office building includes a storage area. The entire site is around 50,000 square meters in size. Six employees take care of administrative tasks and natural stone sales & distribution.
A look at our work at the Pfitsch quarry
Responsibility for the environment
Our natural stone deposits were created over millions of years. There is enough stone here for more than a century; our need for existing resources is low. In addition, we ensure an ecological energy balance in the mining of our natural stone resources with photovoltaic systems, modern buildings and equipment and the construction of a hydroelectric power station to ensure climate-neutral operations. Our energy consumption and emissions for the transport of stone products is very minimal. The advantages of natural stone products: They are easy to clean, which makes it very inexpensive to maintain them. Natural stone products last for centuries. Processed natural stones can even be refinished through grinding and sandblasting so that they can be reused in other building projects. We dispose of the natural product in the form of crushed stone and gravel – returning it to the natural cycle – with minimal energy used for transport. Our quarries are rehabilitated after mining operations are completed and our quarries are closed. They become a natural habitat again for rare plants and animals and are “given back” to nature to restore balance.
Code of Ethics and Conduct
Grünig Natursteine has established a Code of Ethics and Conduct to ensure long-term compliance with our social responsibility and fundamental principles in all activities of the company.
A wealth of experience – natural stone since 1963
Dieter Grünig was a pioneer who established a medium-sized vending machine company in Odenwald, Germany that employed roughly 500 people in the early 1960s. With the company profits he invested more than 45 million euros (in today’s figures) in South Tyrol from 1963 to 1976. The head office was built in Sterzing on a large commercial plot right next to the motorway exit. In consultation with geologists, Dieter Grünig gained access to four natural stone deposits in the first 20 years of the company: Silberquarzit in Pfitsch at 1,500 meters, crystal quartzite in Pfunders, Duner serpentine and white marble in Mareta. Production facilities were built and infrastructure such as access roads established. A material cableway was even set up in 1965 to transport crystal quartzite at Gaiskofel with a length of 1,750 meters and a payload of 2.5 tons – the largest in South Tyrol at the time.
Economic boom thanks to the plants in Pfitsch and Pfunders
The Pfunderertal and Pfitschtal valleys were very poor regions when the company was first established. The population lived on meager agriculture. Exploitation of the natural stone deposits created over 80 jobs in Pfunders and over 60 jobs in Pfitsch, which led to a huge economic boom for both valleys. The main industry in the Pfitschtal valley is still agriculture, but mining has had a positive impact on the region. Today around ten people work in the Pfitsch quarry and about ten in Pfunders and the adjoining plant. State-of-the-art equipment including hydraulic drills, grab dredgers and mining vehicles are available for mining operations. Modern computerized saws and stone processing machines are used in the adjacent production halls in Pfunders and Pfitsch. The main work – cleaving raw Silberquarzit blocks – is still done by hand, which requires much knowledge and skill.
Prof. Dr. med. Ekkehard Grünig takes over the company
The marble plant in Mareta was sold in 1982. Brixner granite operations opened in Meransen-Vals instead. In addition, peat production was moved from Sterzing-Laives to Salorno in 2001 and eventually sold in 2015. Prof. Dr. med. Ekkehard Grünig took over as the sole owner and managing director of the company in the 1980s. The specialist for internal medicine and cardiology and director of the Center for Pulmonary Hypertension at the University Hospital Heidelberg is now a second generation owner and managing director of Grünig Natursteine GmbH. He also began mining Brixner granite in Vals, established the natural stone trade network and started offering project support services. Company buildings and facilities have been modernized under his leadership, new mining areas opened, investments made in research and new structures established. The South Tyrolean employees are largely responsible for their own areas of work. Overall management was transferred to Dr. Martin Schanung in 1999. Senior employees share in the profits.
Other activities
Prof. Dr. med. Ekkehard Grünig is the owner of other companies in addition to Grünig Natursteine GmbH: Grünig Energie GmbH – a hydroelectric power plant and large photovoltaic systems – and Grünig Grundstücksverwaltung GmbH in Erlenbach, which built and manages a 13,700 square meter industrial park that now has about 70 private and commercial tenants.
Grünig has also begun to rent land, buildings and shops in South Tyrol. These include a roughly 30,000 square meter open storage area and various office and shop spaces in Pfunders from 100 square meters. An approximately 800 square meter hall and an outdoor area of up to 3,000 square meters are also available.
Rental in South Tyrol
Rental in Odenwald
Grünig Energie GmbH
