Acquisition of RoboOne Shares through Rights Offering
Utilization of Robot Technology in Electronic Waste Sorting Process
Korea Zinc announced on the 9th that it will secure management rights by investing approximately 15 billion KRW in ROBOne, a domestic robotics solutions company.
Korea Zinc is pursuing the acquisition through the method of acquiring shares via new stock subscription. The investment funds will be used to enhance the company's competitiveness by investing in ROBOne's research and development (R&D), facility investments, and various equipment installations.
ROBOne is a leading small and medium-sized enterprise in the domestic robotics field, possessing robots and automation systems, AI waste sorting robots, and collaborative robot solutions.
Korea Zinc plans to significantly improve work efficiency and productivity by automating a large portion of the electronic waste sorting process using ROBOne's AI waste sorting robots.
Additionally, evTerra, an electronic waste recycling company under PedalPoint Holdings, Korea Zinc's U.S. subsidiary, will also strengthen technological cooperation with ROBOne. evTerra operates four hubs in the U.S. (Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Antonio) capable of processing electronic waste. The combined annual electronic waste processing capacity of these hubs reaches 13,000 tons.
Among these, a ROBOne delta robot will be deployed at the Chicago hub by the end of the year, aiming for trial operation in early next year. It will be used to recover valuable metals that were not sorted in the existing process. Following the pilot operation at the Chicago hub, the introduction of delta robots will be pursued at the Atlanta, Las Vegas, and San Antonio hubs as well.
Through ROBOne, Korea Zinc plans to accumulate various robot-related technological know-how and apply ROBOne's solution technologies in multiple areas such as waste battery sorting and processing, and big data in smelting processes.
This investment is a strategic move to strengthen synergy with the new business 'Troika Drive.' In 2022, Chairman Choi Yoon-beom named three major new businesses?renewable energy and green hydrogen, resource circulation, and secondary battery materials?as the Troika Drive and declared them as future growth engines. Chairman Choi is focusing on investment and value chain enhancement to bring these three new businesses on track as soon as possible.
A Korea Zinc official stated, "ROBOne's robot technology will systematically support the recycling process of the company's resource circulation business and is expected to be expanded to various fields in the future," adding, "It will help Korea Zinc innovate processes as an eco-friendly energy and materials company."
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