Brisas Arbitral Award

Arbitral Award, Settlement Agreement and Mining Data Sale

In October 2009, we initiated a claim (the “Brisas Arbitration”) under the Additional Facility Rules of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) to obtain compensation for the losses caused by the actions of Venezuela that terminated our Brisas Project (as defined herein) in violation of the terms of the Treaty between the Government of Canada and the Government of Venezuela for the Promotion and Protection of Investments. In September 2014, the ICSID Tribunal granted us an Arbitral Award (the “Award”) totaling $740.3 million. The Award (less legal costs and expenses) currently accrues post-award interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 2%, compounded annually.

Under the terms of the July 2016 Settlement Agreement (as amended) Venezuela agreed to pay the Company $792 million to satisfy the Award and $240 million for the purchase of our technical mining data (the “Mining Data”) associated with our previous mining project in Venezuela (the “Brisas Project”) for a total of approximately $1.032 billion in a series of monthly payments ending on or before June 15, 2019. As agreed, the first $240 million received by Gold Reserve from Venezuela has been recognized as proceeds from the sale of the Mining Data.

The terms of the Settlement Agreement included the Company’s agreement to suspend the legal enforcement of the Award until final payment is made by Venezuela and Venezuela’s agreement to irrevocably waive its right to appeal the February 2017 judgment issued by the Cour d’appel de Paris dismissing the annulment applications filed by Venezuela in respect of the Award and to terminate all other proceedings seeking annulment of the Award.

The Company has received cumulative payments of approximately $254 million pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. The remaining unpaid amount due from Venezuela pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, which is delinquent, totals approximately $913 million (including interest of approximately $135 million) as of June 30, 2021.

The interest rate provided for on any unpaid amounts pursuant to the Award is specified as LIBOR plus two percent. In 2017, U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that LIBOR will be phased out of existence as a dependable index for variable interest rates no later than December 31, 2021. Working groups assembled by the U.S. Federal Reserve have identified the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (“SOFR”) as the preferred replacement for LIBOR. SOFR reflects the cost of borrowing in dollars in the daily overnight treasury repo market. If and when it is possible to engage with the Venezuelan government, we expect that we will either come to an agreement with Venezuela as to an appropriate replacement or, alternatively, petition the court responsible for the enforcement of our Award judgement to rule on a new interest rate benchmark. There is no assurance that we will be successful.

The terms of the Settlement Agreement also included Venezuela’s obligation to make available to an escrow agent negotiable financial instruments, with a face value of at least $350 million, partially guaranteeing the payment obligations to the Company as well as the obligation to advance approximately $110 million to Siembra Minera to facilitate the early startup of the pre-operation and construction activities. Venezuela has not yet taken steps to provide such collateral or the early funding and it is unclear if and when Venezuela will comply with these particular obligations contained in the Settlement Agreement.

Venezuela continues to experience substantial social, political and economic turmoil. The country’s overall infrastructure, social services network and economy have generally collapsed. Further, certain non-Venezuelan countries (including the United States) currently recognize a temporary presidency and government with respect to the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, instead of Nicolás Maduro, resulting in a “dual” government. In addition, in March 2020, the U.S. Government indicted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and a number of key associates for human rights abuses and drug trafficking.

The existing conditions in Venezuela, along with Sanctions, are expected to continue, in the foreseeable future, adversely impacting our ability to collect the remaining amount owed to us by Venezuela pursuant to the Settlement Agreement and/or Award and obstruct our ability to develop certain gold, copper, silver and other strategic mineral rights contained within Bolivar State comprising what is known as the Siembra Minera Project.

Gold Reserve Award Executive Summary

Award Full Text