GDRZF Gold Reserve Ltd (QX)

 United States

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 40-F

¨   REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

x   ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13(a) OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended: December 31, 2019    Commission File Number:  001-31819

9999 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 401, Spokane, Washington 99201 - (509) 623-1500

(Address and telephone number of Registrant's principal executive offices)

Rockne J. Timm,

999 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 401, Spokane, Washington, 99201 - (509) 623-1500

(Name, address (including zip code) and telephone number (including area code)

of agent for service in the United States)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Class A common shares, no par value per share

 (Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

 (Title of Class)

For annual reports, indicate by check mark the information filed with this Form:

x Annual Information Form x Audited Annual Financial Statements

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer's classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report: Class A common shares, no par value per share: 99,395,048

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  x Yes   ¨ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). x  Yes     ¨  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. ¨ Emerging Growth Company.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Explanatory note

Gold Reserve Inc. ("Gold Reserve", the "Company", "we", "us" or "our") is a Canadian issuer eligible to file its annual report pursuant to Section 13 of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), on Form 40-F. We are a "foreign private issuer" as defined in Rule 3b-4 under the Exchange Act and in Rule 405 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). Our equity securities are accordingly exempt from Sections 14(a), 14(b), 14(c), 14(f) and 16 of the Exchange Act pursuant to Rule 3a12-3.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING differences in united states and
canadian reporting practices

We are permitted, under a multi-jurisdictional disclosure system adopted by the United States and Canada, to prepare this Annual Report in accordance with Canadian disclosure requirements, which are different from those of the United States.

-        the Sanctions are expected to continue to adversely impact our ability to receive the remaining funds owed by Venezuela and our ability to finance, develop and operate the Siembra Minera Project;

●        risks that U.S. and Canadian government agencies that enforce Sanctions may not issue licenses that the Company may request in the future to engage in certain Venezuela-related transactions;

●        risks associated with the Company's inability to access amounts held in the trust account (the "Trust Account") for the benefit of the Company at Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela ("Bandes Bank")  which have been blocked as a result of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designation of Bandes Bank as a SDN pursuant to an Executive Order;

●        risks associated with the continued failure by Venezuela to honor its commitments under the Settlement Agreement whereby Venezuela agreed to pay us the Award (as defined below) (including interest) and purchase our technical mining data associated with our previous Brisas Project (the "Mining Data") for approximately $1.032 billion in a series of monthly payments ending on or before June 15, 2019 (the "Settlement Agreement");

●        risks associated with Venezuela's failure to honor its commitments associated with the formation and operation of Siembra Minera (a company formed to develop the Siembra Minera Project which is comprised of certain gold, copper, silver and other strategic mineral rights within Bolivar State of Venezuela) and risks associated with the ability of the Company and Venezuela to (i) successfully overcome legal or regulatory obstacles to operate Siembra Minera for the purpose of developing the Siembra Minera Project, (ii) complete any additional definitive documentation and finalize remaining governmental approvals and (iii) obtain financing to fund the capital costs of the Siembra Minera Project;

●        risks associated with the existence of "dual" governments in Venezuela as a result of certain non-Venezuelan countries (including the United States) recognizing a presidency and government with respect to Juan Guaidó instead of Nicolás Maduro (and vice versa), including associated challenges as to governing and decision-making authority related thereto, and the U.S. Government's recent indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and a number of key associates for drug trafficking;

●        risks associated with the collection of a September 2014 arbitral award granted pursuant to the Additional Facility Rules of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (the "Award") and substantial concentration of our operations and assets in Venezuela which are and will continue to be subject to risks specific to Venezuela, including the effects of political, economic and social developments, social instability and unrest; international response to Venezuelan domestic and international policies; Sanctions by the U.S. or Canadian governments or other jurisdictions and potential invalidation, confiscation, expropriation or rescission of governmental orders, permits, agreements or property rights either by the existing or a future administration;

●        risks that any future Venezuelan administration will fail to respect the agreements of the prior administration;

●        risks associated with our ability to resume our efforts to enforce and collect the Award, including the associated costs of enforcement and collection efforts and the timing and success of that effort, if Venezuela fails to honor its commitments pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, it is terminated and further efforts related to the Settlement Agreement are abandoned;

●        the risk that the conclusions of management and its qualified consultants contained in the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Siembra Minera Gold Copper Project in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") may not be realized in the future;

●        risks associated with exploration, delineation of adequate reserves, regulatory and permitting obstacles and other risks associated with the development of the Siembra Minera Project;

●        risks associated with our ability to service outstanding obligations as they come due and access future additional funding, when required, for ongoing liquidity and capital resources, pending the receipt of payments under the Settlement Agreement or collection of the Award in the courts;

●        risks associated with our prospects in general for the identification, exploration and development of mining projects and other risks normally incident to the exploration, development and operation of mining properties, including our ability to achieve revenue producing operations in the future;

●        risks that estimates and/or assumptions required to be made by management in the course of preparing our financial statements are determined to be inaccurate, resulting in a negative impact on the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period;

●        risks associated with shareholder dilution resulting from the future sale of additional equity, if required;

●        risks associated with the value realized, if any, from the disposition of the assets related to our previous mining project in Venezuela known as the "Brisas Project";

●        risks associated with the abilities of and continued participation by certain employees;

●        risks associated with the impact of current or future U.S., Canadian and/or other jurisdiction's tax laws to which we are or may be subject; and

●        risks associated with the impact of new diseases, epidemics and pandemics, including the effects and potential effects of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of our forward-looking statements. See "Risk Factors" in Management's Discussion and Analysis for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 included herein as Exhibit 99.3.

Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and investors should not infer that there has been no change in our affairs since the date of this report that would warrant any modification of any forward-looking statement made in this document, other documents periodically filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") or other securities regulators or presented on the Company's website.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made.  All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.  We disclaim any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to our disclosure obligations under applicable U.S. and Canadian securities regulations.  Investors are urged to read the Company's filings with U.S. and Canadian securities regulatory agencies, which can be viewed online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company’s expected financial and operational performance and results as at and for the periods ended on the dates presented in the Company’s plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes.

The terms "mineral resource," "measured mineral resource," "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101. However, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases, and such estimates are not part of the SEC industry Guide 7.

CURRENCY

Unless otherwise indicated, all references to "$", "U.S. $" or "U.S. dollars" in this Annual Report refer to U.S. dollars and references to "Cdn $" or "Canadian dollars" refer to Canadian dollars. The 12-month average rate of exchange for one Canadian dollar, expressed in U.S. dollars, for each of the last two calendar years equaled 0.7537 and 0.7716, respectively, and the exchange rate at the end of each such period equaled 0.7715 and 0.7329, respectively.

PrincipAl Canadian Documents

Annual Information Form. Our Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, is included herein as Exhibit 99.1.

Audited Annual Financial Statements. Our audited consolidated financial statements as at December 31, 2019 and 2018, and for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, including Management's Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and the report of our independent registered public accounting firm with respect thereto, are included herein as part of Exhibit 99.2.

Management's Discussion and Analysis. Management's discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, is included herein as Exhibit 99.3.

Our Audit Committee's Charter can be found on our website at www.goldreserveinc.com in the Investor Relations section under "Governance."

Independence. The Board has made the affirmative determination that all members of the Audit Committee are "independent" pursuant to the criteria outlined by the Canadian National Instrument 52-110 - Audit Committees, Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Audit Committee Financial Expert. Each member of the Audit Committee is considered to be financially literate. The Board has determined that Mr. Potvin is an "audit committee financial expert" as such term is defined under Item 8(b) of General Instruction B to Form 40-F. The SEC has indicated that the designation of Mr. Potvin as an audit committee financial expert does not make Mr. Potvin an "expert" for any purpose, impose any duties, obligations or liabilities on Mr. Potvin that are greater than those imposed on other members of the Audit Committee and Board who do not carry this designation or affect the duties, obligations or liability of any other member of the Audit Committee and Board.