Venezuela’s state-owned mining company has signed a multimillion-dollar contract to ship up to one metric ton of gold to the United States, marking the latest step in Washington’s drive to redirect the South American country’s natural resource wealth toward American markets. The deal, reported by Axios on Wednesday, was brokered during a visit to Caracas by US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and is estimated to be worth more than $150 million at current prices.
Under the agreement, Minerven will supply between 650 and 1,000 kilograms of gold doré bars — semi-processed gold with a specified 98% final purity — to Swiss-based commodities trader Trafigura. Trafigura will then distribute the gold to US refineries under a separate arrangement with the American government. The contract represents the third resource extraction deal overseen by the Trump administration since it captured former president Nicolás Maduro in January and installed his former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, as interim leader.
Burgum’s Caracas Mission
The gold agreement emerged from a meeting Wednesday between Burgum and Rodríguez at the Miraflores presidential palace, where the two discussed mining sector reforms and mineral extraction policy alongside American mining executives and metal traders. Rodríguez told the group that her government would move “at Trump speed” to help international partners capitalize on Venezuela’s vast mineral resources, and announced she would submit proposed reforms to the country’s mining laws to the legislature in coming days.
Burgum described Venezuela as “a rich, rich country filled with both oil and gas resources, but also rich in critical minerals,” and said the opportunities for collaboration were “unlimited.” The US diplomatic mission characterized his two-day visit as a “vital and historic step” in a three-phase plan benefiting both countries.
Oil First, Now Gold
The gold contract extends a pattern that began with oil. Trafigura is already involved in Venezuelan petroleum deals worth more than $1 billion under Trump administration supervision. In late January, Rodríguez signed legislation to expand private investment in the state-controlled oil industry, satisfying a key American demand. Trump praised the relationship on Truth Social on Wednesday, saying oil was “beginning to flow” and calling Rodríguez’s performance “excellent.”
While one metric ton of gold is modest by global market standards, the deal carries outsized symbolic weight. Venezuela’s gold reserves were for years channeled toward allied nations including Turkey, Russia, and China, often outside formal Western financial channels and sometimes in alleged violation of international sanctions. The redirection of that flow toward US refineries represents a tangible shift in Venezuela’s economic orientation under its new Washington-backed leadership.
Gold at Record Highs
The deal arrives as gold trades near historic peaks. The metal has gained roughly a fifth in value this year, driven by geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the Iran conflict, trade tensions from US tariff policy, and concerns about Federal Reserve independence. Gold reached an all-time high above $5,595 per ounce in late January, making Venezuelan supply a particularly lucrative commodity for all parties involved.
Sovereignty Questions Linger
Critics have questioned whether the US is exploiting Venezuela’s post-Maduro vulnerability for resource access. International law establishes permanent sovereignty over natural resources as a fundamental right, and UN experts described the January military operation that removed Maduro as a “grave, manifest and deliberate violation” of international law. For Rodríguez, the calculus is simpler: cooperation with Washington is the price of staying in power. Each new deal — oil, gold, and eventually rare earths — tightens the commercial bonds that make that arrangement harder to reverse.