SPARTON RESOURCES INC.

VRB Energy Inc. Achieves Milestone Global Certification for its Third Generation Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

TORONTO, Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sparton Resources (TSX-V: SRI) (“the Company”) is pleased to report today that Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE American IE, TSX IE) announced, on August 30, 2023, that its 90% owned subsidiary, VRB Energy Inc., has received Underwriters Laboratories (“UL”) 1973 certification for its third generation Energy Storage System (“Gen3 VRB-ESS^”).

UL 1973 is an internationally recognized global standard for commercially available battery energy storage.

This is a major achievement for VRB Energy as the "Gen3 VRB-ESS^" is the only battery system currently available that is certified at the UL 1973 Standard for a 1-Megawatt Hour power module. This is the basic VRB Energy building block for its electricity storage systems.

Sparton’s interest in VRB Energy is held through a 90% interest in VanSpar Mining Inc. which in turns owns 9.975% of VRB Energy. Full information regarding the history of the Company VRB Energy investment is available in its various news releases and available at www.sedar.com in its corporate filings, or on the Sparton website at www.spartonresources.com.

About UL 1973

The UL 1973 certificate addresses major battery issues such as safety, reliability and operating uses. Included in this certification are testing protocols involving materials, vibration tests, high temperature operation, over charging, short circuiting, and physical drop tests.

The work was undertaken by VRB Energy with the CSA Group, formerly the Canadian Standards Association and the safety testing done using the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) protocols 13849-1, and 13849-2 2012 standards.

About VRB Energy

VRB Energy is a fast-growing, privately held clean technology innovator. The company has developed the most reliable, longest-lasting vanadium flow battery in the world, with more than 500 megawatt-hours installed or in development worldwide, and more than 1,000,000 hours of demonstrated performance. The recent UL Certification sets it apart from other energy storage system providers.

VRB Energy’s vanadium redox battery systems store energy in liquid electrolyte in a patented process based on the reduction and oxidation of ionic forms of the element vanadium. This is a repeatable process that is safe, reliable, and non-toxic. The electrolyte can be recycled at end-of-life, dramatically improving lifecycle economics and environmental benefits compared to lithium-ion and other battery types.