Spokane-based Gold Reserve Inc., a mine-exploration company, has announced that its stock ceased being traded on the NYSE Amex LLC stock exchange effective March 15, after appeals submitted to an independent panel to remain on the exchange were denied.

The NYSE Amex exchange delisting action is an indirect result of the ongoing legal battle Gold Reserve 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 has been the Brisas Project, and since the Venezuelan government seized that mine in 2008, the company has discontinued substantially the business that it conducted while it was listed on the stock exchange.

The action followed a Feb. 1 delisting by the Toronto Stock Exchange, which also concluded that Gold Reserve no longer complied with its listing rules because of the expropriation of the Brisas project.In a press release issued March 15, Gold Reserve says its common shares now will 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 of GRZ.V on the TSX Venture Exchange, a stock exchange in Canada for emerging companies.

In late 2011, the NYSE Amex stock exchange accepted a Gold Reserve plan to regain compliance with the exchange's listing service, according to a shareholder update that the company released on Oct. 31 of that year. The plan required Gold Reserve to obtain a working interest in at least one mineral-exploration property by Dec. 20, 2012.

Gold Reserve President Doug Belanger couldn't be reached for comment on the NYSE Amex delisting action. In an annual report filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it "ultimately did not meet a key term of the plan."

While the company obtained a working interest last year in the copper-gold La Tortuga Project, southwest of Guadalajara in Mexico, the company doesn't have any commercial production and hasn't recorded revenue or cash flows from mining operations there, the report says. Gold Reserve also continues to experience losses from operations, the report says.

The company has reported a net loss of $10 million for last year, compared with net losses of $23.6 million and $21.6 million in 2011 and 2010, respectively.

"Even though the company believes it regained compliance with the NYSE continued listing standards on an overall basis, the NYSE again sent written notice of intent to file a delisting application in January 2013," the report said. "The company appealed again, and an oral hearing with an independent panel was held on February 28, 2013."

"The NYSE notified the company that its appeal had been denied on March 7 ... and subsequently suspended the company's common shares at the close of market on March 14."

Last year, Gold Reserve said it had started new exploration activities after a May agreement to become a partner in the La Tortuga Project. Gold Reserve had entered into an option agreement with Soltoro Ltd. for the right to earn a 51 percent interest in the La Tortuga property.

Meanwhile, Gold Reserve is awaiting a decision on a $2 billion arbitration claim against Venezuela with the World Bank's Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, through which it's seeking compensation for the taking of its Brisas Project in that South American nation. The company says a settlement with the Venezuela government in the dispute is still possible, though, and that Venezuela has contracted with a large Chinese corporation to develop what's now called the Brisas-Cristinas mine.

Gold Reserve says settlement terms might involve a transfer of the company's extensive technical engineering data for developing the project. It estimates the data would significantly shorten development of the mine to three or four years, instead of seven to 10 years.