Shares of Spokane-based Gold Reserve Inc. soared Monday on news of a partnership between another mining company with claims in Venezuela and China Railway Resources Co. Ltd.

The stock price jumped almost 18 cents to 90 cents, a 24 percent gain for the day. Volume, at 1.7 million shares, was more than 13 times average.

Gold Reserve owns the Brisas deposit in Venezuela, but the prospective mine with 11 million ounces of gold and 1.4 million pounds of copper was expropriated in October 2009 by the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Development of a nearby Las Cristinas mine owned by Crystallex International Corp. was also blocked by the Venezuelan government. Monday, Crystallex announced a deal with China Railway that will revive negotiations for the permits needed to open the mine.

Gold Reserve President Doug Belanger declined to comment on the Crystallex-China Railway deal, or the jump in Gold Reserve stock.

The company is open to a deal favorable to shareholders, he said, but in the meantime the company will continue to seek compensation for the loss of the Brisas Project.

Gold Reserve filed for arbitration of its claims against the Venezuelan government in the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Belanger said the process should reach a hearing in December 2011.

"That's pretty good," he said, when compared with other arbitrations that have lasted two or three times as long.

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