Gold Reserve Corp. Adopts Rights Plan

Spokane-based Gold Reserve Corp. adopted a shareholder rights protection plan Thursday to help protect the company’s stock holders in the event the company gets acquired.

The move, not uncommon in the merger-heavy mining industry, gives the board of directors for Gold Reserve time to evaluate an offer. The plan would allow the company to seek out other offers and take other measures to ensure shareholders are treated equally in any merger.

Rockne J. Timm, Gold Reserve president, said in a statement that the move was not a response to his company being targeted for takeover. On the strength of Gold Reserve’s encouraging gold mine in Venezuela, the company’s stock has risen in recent months.

However, the recent debacle involving Bre-X Minerals, a Canadian-based exploration firm that saw its stock value drop to nearly nothing after its major gold deposit turned out to be a bust, did contribute to the need for the plan, Timm said in the statement.

The company also Thursday reported more encouraging drilling results from the Venezuelan mine. Gold Reserve stock finished up 25 cents at $8.63 a share. It had dropped about a $1 share on the news of Bre-X last week.

, DataTimes