Spokane-based Gold Reserve Inc., the mine-exploration company that that filed a $2 billion-plus claim after it had its primary mining property seized by the Venezuelan government in 2008, says its lengthy efforts to be compensated for that loss have taken a step forward.

In a press release issued May 1, the company said the tribunal in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes that’s hearing its case against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has asked both parties to submit their costs by May 26.

Of how soon thereafter the three-person panel likely will issue its decision in the case, Doug Belanger, Gold Reserve’s president, says, “We would expect it soon.”

He declines to discuss how optimistic he is about the outcome of the case, other than to say, “We’re very confident about the facts and the valuation analysis we did.”

The company is seeking $1.928 billion plus interest, which could bring the total up to about $2.3 billion, Belanger says. The claim amount represents the estimated fair market value of the legal rights to develop the Brisas Project, as well as the value of another Venezuelan property known as Choco 5, according to company regulatory filings.

Gold Reserve also last week announced plans for a sizable debt offering that it said will enable it “to pursue the arbitration process through to its full conclusion.”

It said it had agreed in principle with its largest shareholders to issue up to $12 million worth of new convertible notes due Dec. 31, 2015, and to extend the maturity date of nearly all of its $25.3 million outstanding principal amount of previously modified notes from June 29 of this year to Dec. 31, 2015. It said it will issue the new notes with an original issue discount—meaning a discount from par value at the time they’re issued—of 2.5 percent of the principal amount and will pay a cash extension fee of 2.5 percent of the principal amount of the modified notes being extended.

Gold Reserve said the new notes and the modified notes will bear interest at a rate of 11 percent a year, which will be paid in kind quarterly and added to the principal amount of the notes. It said the notes will be convertible, at the option of the holder, into 266.67 shares of Class A common shares per $1,000—equivalent to a conversion price of $3.75 cents per common share—at any time upon written notice to the company. The modified notes previously had an interest rate of 5.5 percent and a conversion price of $4 a share.

It said the notes will be senior unsecured obligations of the company, redeemable at a price equal to 120 percent of the outstanding principal balance plus accrued interest upon the issuance of a final arbitration award, subject to certain conditions.

It said the transaction is expected to be completed this month.

Gold Reserve’s common shares now trade in the U.S. through an over-the-counter exchange, OTCQB, under the ticker symbol GDRZF. Additionally, the company’s common shares are listed under the symbol GRZ.V on the TSX Venture Exchange, a stock exchange in Canada for emerging companies.

Its stock ceased being traded on the NYSE Amex LLC stock exchange in March 2013, after appeals submitted to an independent panel to remain on the exchange were denied. The delisting action was an indirect result of the ongoing legal battle the company has been waging with the Venezuelan government over its Brisas Project property in that South American country.

Gold Reserve’s primary business for more than 16 years had been the Brisas Project, and since the Venezuelan government seized that mine six years ago, the company has discontinued substantially the business that it conducted when it was listed on the stock exchange.