Gold Reserve – the #1 way to get exposure to Venezuelan mining?

Venezuela has some of the world's largest untapped gold reserves.

Following the removal of President Maduro, the new interim government wants to mobilise new mining investments to kickstart its ailing economy.

Gold Reserve could strike a deal whereby it swaps old legal claims in exchange for being allowed to return to its disputed Venezuelan mining projects.

The stock is one of the very few public-market ways to gain pure exposure to Venezuela.

Gold Reserve.

Pursuing Venezuela in US courts

For Undervalued-Shares.com Lifetime Members, Gold Reserve (ISIN BMG4R86G1074, CA:GRZ and US OTC:GDRZF) is a familiar name.

In March 2023, I published an extensive research report explaining why the company – which holds defaulted Venezuelan debt and legal claims – had "limited downside and potentially very large upside". At the time, Gold Reserve had a USD 106m market cap, of which USD 50m was covered by net cash. The stock was trading at CAD 1.49 and USD 1.20.

Fast forward to today, and the stock is up over 4x.

Anyone who is up that much has truly earned their paper gain. They had to withstand enormous gyrations and a real rollercoaster of emotions. The company's strategy involved trying to recover parts of its legal claims against Venezuela by participating in the auction of CITGO, a government-owned Venezuelan refinery and petrol station company located in the US. This turned into a complex and spectacular public battle – an epic corporate drama that I hope someone will write a book about one day.

Gold Reserve ultimately failed in its strategy, but it retained enormous claims. These consist not only of financial claims but also of stakes in mining projects.

After the CITGO effort failed in autumn 2025, I told my Lifetime Members to stick with the investment regardless. Why? Because the upside embedded in these claims was simply SO large that it seemed worth sticking around to see what other options might emerge.

Little did I know that President Trump would get rid of Venezuela's President Maduro in a night-time raid just a few months later.

Everything changed

The day before this article was published, the US Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, visited Venezuela's interim government, which is led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

Burgum brought an entire entourage of mining executives with him, representing firms such as Glencore, Trafigura, Hartree Partners, Peabody Energy, and Gold Reserve.

Crucially, he also leads the National Energy Dominance Council created by Trump. The council is part of the administration's push to shore up supplies of strategic minerals, both domestically and abroad. The Trump administration isn't just interested in Venezuela's oil but also in its minerals – including gold. Venezuela famously has immense gold deposits, much of which remain untapped due to the country's decades-long political turmoil.

Source: Mining.com, 4 March 2026.

Indeed, Venezuela has a very chequered history with mining – to put it mildly. Its mining laws date from 1999, and the former government famously expropriated many mining companies. One could argue that Gold Reserve is a case study in why NOT to invest in Venezuela.

To bring mining companies back and persuade them to deploy billions to build new operations will require watertight security guarantees. The direct involvement of the President's office on both sides is therefore a critical first step. President Rodríguez has said she will soon submit mining law reform to the National Assembly.

Even if new legislation and security guarantees are put in place, plenty of challenges will remain. Many mining regions are remote and difficult to access, criminality is widespread, and mining inevitably raises complex environmental concerns.

Still, if there has been a moment during the past decade when it appeared that mining and other resource extraction in Venezuela could restart in earnest, it'd be now.

And importantly, Gold Reserve enters this period with a strong balance sheet thanks to a major feat the company pulled off last month.

Getting ready to go back into mining

Following the failure of its strategy to pursue the CITGO assets, the share price collapsed – only to double overnight when Maduro was deposed.

Gold Reserve.

The Canadian company used the changed political circumstances to strengthen its war chest. Last month, it announced plans to raise USD 50m.

As the company stated at the time:

"'It is our understanding that the Venezuelan government under President Rodriquez is re-opening for business. We believe this new President wants to re-establish strong business ties within the Western hemisphere and grow the economy for the greater good of Venezuelans. Gold Reserve intends to return to Venezuela as soon as we are able to do so in a safe and legally compliant manner, in order to re-establish connectivity, re-evaluate conditions in-country and, eventually, resume a critical minerals business,' said Paul Rivett, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. 'This financing achieves at least two important goals: re-building a mining investor base for the long-term benefit of our on-going opportunities and growing our capital committed to re-establishing potential business in Venezuela.'"

Little did he know just how strong investor demand would turn out to be.

In the end, Gold Reserve raised USD 75m – and even then there was still substantial unmet demand.

The company also announced:

"The Financing includes participation from several highly experienced, strategic investors that we expect will be a valuable resource to Gold Reserve as it works to return to Venezuela as soon as it is legally permitted. Gold Reserve believes this strong strategic investor participation underscores the confidence in the Company's strategic direction and both its near-term and long-term objectives to pursue a return to Venezuela and mining operations."

The shares were placed at USD 3 each. Just a week later, these investors were already up 50%.

On 5 March 2026, the company was able to announce: "Gold Reserve Returns to Venezuela

Paul Rivett, Vice Chair of Gold Reserve, said, 'We attended these important initial meetings in Venezuela yesterday and we are very impressed with the progress and support of both the U.S. administration and President Rodríguez's administration. The speed and depth to which the U.S. and Venezuelan administrations are working in partnership together is inspiring and will no doubt benefit the resiliency of our hemisphere. We strongly believe there is a path emerging toward cooperation and greatness for the people of Venezuela and the United States, while creating long-term value for our shareholders.' The Company also learned that OFAC has granted a 30-day license for certain businesses, including Gold Reserve, to negotiate with Venezuela. Gold Reserve intends to utilize this opportunity and is thankful to OFAC for allowing this historic initial opportunity to return to Venezuela with our partners."

The company now has a market cap approaching CAD 800m / USD 600m. When I first featured it, Gold Reserve was a micro-cap with very limited trading liquidity. Today, it offers a reasonable level of liquidity.

For investors wanting exposure to Venezuela, is this the right play?

Massive upside

For the avoidance of doubt, Gold Reserve remains a highly speculative company.

Still, the market reacted enthusiastically to this week's news.

One has to wonder: is the share price about to surpass its five-year high and move into entirely new territory?

It wouldn't be surprising. During the past week, I had a raft of people reach out to ask how they could gain exposure to Venezuela. This is a theme that almost no one currently has exposure to – but one that investors are suddenly eager to participate in.

Gold Reserve offers Venezuela exposure in multiple ways:

• Its existing USD 1bn+ arbitration claim against Venezuela, which it continues to pursue in connection with the CITGO auction (though this remains an uphill battle).
• An alternative legal claim seeking to confiscate Venezuelan government bank accounts held in Portugal, which appears to have made meaningful progress.
• A potential multi-billion-dollar legal claim arising from another arbitration process that is still in its early stages but now underway in earnest. This relates to the expropriation of the company's 45% stake in Venezuela's Siembra mining project.
• The possibility that, as part of the current political reset, Gold Reserve could reach a deal allowing it to return to Venezuela as a mining operator in exchange for relinquishing certain other claims.

Right now, assigning a value to the company and its potential plans is virtually impossible.

The company's 45% stake in the disputed Siembra mining project could prove to be an explosive asset. This project was once estimated to contain 32m (!) ounces of gold and 3bn pounds of copper. In 2016 – when gold traded at just USD 1,250 per ounce and copper at USD 2.2 per pound – the gross value of these minerals was estimated at approximately USD 47bn. Today, both metals trade far higher.

No matter how you look at it, Gold Reserve offers potentially HUGE upside.

But it all depends on politics. For example, based on what conditions could Gold Reserve return to its operations and how much dilution is necessary to fund an operation?

Which raises the question: who exactly are the "strategic investors" that the company has now brought on board?

Presumably, only investors who support what the Trump administration is doing would have invested at this stage.

Are they well connected to the administration?

Would that even matter, now that Venezuela's government is desperate for new investment? Gold Reserve would presumably be in a pole position anyway if and when the Venezuelan government reopens its mining sector.

These are questions that investors will increasingly start to focus on.

And quite possibly, even tentative answers may be enough (for now) to drive the share price higher. Perhaps substantially so. News about these meetings took the market by surprise, and the story has not yet spread among investors.

That said, Gold Reserve isn't the only such play available on public markets.

Similar cases abound – and a conference to swap such ideas

Gold Reserve is a model case of how disputed mining assets and related legal claims can stage a furious comeback. There is also Rusoro Mining (ISIN CA7822271028, CA:RML and USOTC:RMLFF), a penny stock I featured in a free Weekly Dispatch on Venezuela in August 2022. The stock is up 10x today – although it traded even higher at times – and alongside Gold Reserve it represents the other pure play on Venezuelan legal and mining claims.

Similar situations exist elsewhere in the world. Quite a few cases involving disputed mining assets have recently shown signs of renewed life. Much of this is driven by changing national priorities and policies – often described as "resource nationalism".

Another particularly (in)famous case is Northern Dynasty Minerals (ISIN CA66510M2040, NYSE:NAK), a Canadian company that claims ownership of a world-class – but highly contentious – copper and gold deposit in Alaska.

Undervalued-Shares.com Lifetime Members received an extensive research report on the company in February 2023, when virtually nobody was interested and the stock traded at USD 0.22. Since then it's traded up to 10x higher, though it has remained extremely volatile as legal and political developments continue to shape its prospects. Just last month, the stock lost 50% overnight (again!) following disappointing news.

Northern Dynasty Minerals.

The latest collapse leaves the company either one step closer to total demise, or right ahead of its next upswing when a new glimmer of hope appears. Whichever perspective you prefer. I have long wondered whether "strategic investors" close to the Trump administration might eventually take a stake – and what that might do to the share price.

How to find such cases before they become better known?

One forum to discuss these types of situations is the Weird Shit Investing conference, the annual think tank-style event I host in three of the world's leading financial centres.

The next series of events will take place on 11 June (Hong Kong), 16 June (London), and 18 June (New York). Each event will feature 16 investors presenting a "weird" investment case, alongside a small audience of HNWIs and family offices.

If this type of event interests you, check out the dedicated website. It's invite-only, and anyone wishing to attend must provide some background information, as I manually curate the audience each year.

Gold Reserve and Northern Dynasty Minerals would fit right into this event. There are many others, however – including some waiting to be discovered in the forgotten corners of the capital markets where they are currently stuck.

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