Sonid Partners with Zimbabwe TD Holdings in Secondary Battery, Smart City, and Lithium Mine Development Sectors

Sonid, a KOSDAQ-listed company, announced on the 25th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Zimbabwe TD Holdings for secondary battery and smart city businesses, as well as lithium mine development.

SonyD CEO Oh Jung-geon and Gideon Gono, Chairman of Zimbabwe TD Holdings, are taking a commemorative photo for the signing of a business agreement. Photo by SonyD

The signing ceremony held at Sonid's Seoul headquarters was attended by Sonid CEO Oh Jung-geon and TD Holdings Chairman Gideon Gono. Chairman Gideon Gono is the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, and TD Holdings leads basic infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Starting from this MOU, Sonid will collaborate with Zimbabwe TD Holdings in the fields of secondary battery battery packs, battery recycling business, smart city projects, and lithium mine development currently underway.

In March, Sonid acquired Sonidritech and secured essential permits for designated waste comprehensive recycling, business sites for pre- and post-processing, and refining facilities necessary for the waste battery recycling business. In May, Sonid acquired KOBAT, which develops battery pack management systems, marking its full-scale entry into the secondary battery battery pack market.

As lithium, the main material for electric vehicle batteries, emerges as a strategic core mineral, Zimbabwe ranks as the sixth largest lithium producer in the world, following Australia, Chile, China, Argentina, and Brazil. The International Trade Administration (ITA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that if all lithium mines in Zimbabwe are developed, they could supply more than 20% of the global demand.

During the MOU, TD Holdings explained the smart city planned to be built in Zimbabwe, and the company reported that TD Holdings showed interest in Sonid’s solutions including ▲safety reconnaissance robots ▲RFID systems ▲firefighting drones.

The safety reconnaissance robot can prevent safety accidents in industrial sites and respond quickly in case of disasters. It can block gas leaks, remove obstacles, enter fire zones and extinguish fires, and move hazardous objects in dangerous areas such as nuclear and other power plants, oil fields, and gas facilities. It can also be used for military purposes such as mine clearance and explosive detection.

Sonid possesses an RFID tag-based smart logistics solution that can replace barcode-based logistics systems. This integrated logistics solution manages product inflow and outflow, sales, returns, and inventory, reducing costs and shortening processing times.

The firefighting drone ‘Poseidon’ was developed by Sonid’s subsidiary Defense Korea and is equipped with a 99% recoilless rifle that has obtained the Defense Quality (DQ) mark certification from the Defense Technology Quality Institute. It can break glass and extinguish fires in high-rise building fires up to 1000 meters high.

Sonid CEO Oh Jung-geon said, “We hope that the secondary battery and smart city businesses with Zimbabwe will be activated through TD Holdings,” adding, “We will closely cooperate to create synergy between the secondary battery business capabilities we possess and various solutions such as safety reconnaissance robots, RFID systems, and Poseidon in the Zimbabwe market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.