US Deepens Venezuela Resource Footprint: Oil to Gold

The Venezuela gold US relationship has moved from diplomatic rhetoric to physical metal. Washington issued a license in March authorizing American companies to trade Venezuelan gold and transact directly with Minerven, the state-owned mining company that controls extraction in the Orinoco Mining Arc. Global commodities trader Trafigura is now purchasing between 650 and 1,000 kilograms of gold doré bars — semi-refined at roughly 98% purity — for refining in the United States.

The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the gold trade forms part of a broader resource strategy that has accelerated since the January 3 US intervention that removed Nicolás Maduro. This week, Chevron and Shell signed new oil and gas agreements with PDVSA under the $100 billion energy reconstruction plan. The gold deals open a parallel extraction channel in a country whose mineral wealth extends far beyond crude.

Burgum’s Caracas Visit With 20 Mining Firms

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum traveled to Venezuela in March for a two-day visit focused on the mining sector’s future. He met with acting President Delcy Rodríguez alongside representatives from approximately 20 American mineral companies, discussing investment opportunities across gold, rare earth elements, nickel, bauxite, and iron ore.

The visit signaled that Washington views Venezuela not just as an oil play but as a critical minerals source. The Orinoco Mining Arc — a 111,000-square-kilometer zone in southeastern Venezuela — contains poorly documented but potentially vast reserves of strategic minerals. Gold Reserve, the Canadian miner, received a 30-day license to negotiate the return of its Brisas gold-copper mine, which was expropriated under Hugo Chávez in 2009.

The Venezuela Gold US Pipeline Takes Shape

Trafigura’s purchase operates under what the company calls a “responsible sourcing” program with Minerven. The gold doré bars will be shipped to US refineries, entering American supply chains for the first time since pre-sanctions trade collapsed. During the State of the Union, Trump announced the US had “just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil” — a signal that resource extraction is central to Washington’s post-intervention posture.

Venezuela’s new mining law approved in January opened the sector to foreign investment for the first time, providing the legal framework for these transactions. The oil ministry also cancelled 19 Maduro-era contracts with private companies, with US and Venezuelan authorities now reviewing the credentials of firms that signed them.

The Human Rights Shadow

The gold rush faces significant criticism. A coalition of 16 NGOs has called Venezuela’s mining law a “veneer of legality” for operations linked to human rights violations, including forced labor and mercury contamination in artisanal mining zones. The Orinoco Mining Arc has been plagued by illegal extraction controlled by armed groups — a reality that Trafigura’s “responsible sourcing” branding will struggle to address at scale.

For investors, the Venezuela gold US corridor represents a new asset class emerging from the post-Maduro reconstruction. Combined with the Chevron oil expansion and Shell’s gas deals, the resource footprint is building rapidly. Whether it delivers development or repeats the extractive patterns that defined the Chávez and Maduro eras will depend on whether the Rodríguez government — and its American partners — can impose governance standards on a sector that has operated lawlessly for over a decade.