Gold Reserve Corp. Settles Court Battle

Spokane-based Gold Reserve formally settled on Tuesday its lengthy court battle with a Toronto gold company over a Venezuelan gold mine.

TVX Gold Inc. had challenged Gold Reserve’s ownership of the Brisas gold mine in southeastern Venezuela throughout 1994. Instead of waiting for the Supreme Court to settle the issue, the two parties reached a settlement agreement Dec. 21.

Subsidiaries and holding companies of TVX received 2.75 million common shares of Gold Reserve stock and a total of 750,000 warrants entitling the parties to buy Gold Reserve shares for $10 Canadian during the next 18 months.

Gold Reserve also placed $4.5 million in escrow that would go to a TVX subsidiary if Gold Reserve discovers more gold in the deeper bedrock under the Brisas site.

All of the stock and warrants for shares make up 15 percent of Gold Reserve’s shares, far less than the 55 percent that TVX originally had asked for, said A. Douglas Belanger, vice president of Gold Reserve.

Gold Reserve’s stock closed down 19 cents Tuesday at $7.19.