Key Takeaways
Venezuela is rich in critical minerals, including gold, diamonds, iron ore, bauxite, rare earths, coltan, nickel, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, and titanium — minerals important for defense and technological applications.
The Trump administration wants to encourage private equity to invest in critical mineral projects in Venezuela, but U.S. investment has been scarce in the past.
The country’s mining district, the Orinoco Mining Arc, is located south of the Orinoco River in an area of about 112,000 square kilometers where gangs and cartels are prevalent.
China has had a growing presence in Venezuela, purchasing most of its oil exports and pursuing “multibillion-dollar deals” for access to gold, coltan, and other minerals in Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc under the country’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The Trump administration wants to encourage private equity to invest in critical mineral projects in Venezuela with offtakes back to the United States. But harnessing Venezuela’s mining industry and accessing raw materials — gold, bauxite, coltan, diamonds, nickel, critical minerals, and rare earths — faces challenges as their locations are largely unmapped and existing data is outdated, according to E&E News. The country holds Latin America’s largest gold deposits, estimated at more than 8,000 metric tons, as well as up to one million carats of rough diamonds, four billion tons of iron ore worth nearly $600 billion, and large reserves of bauxite needed for aluminum production. It also holds other critical raw materials, including rare earths, coltan, nickel, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, and titanium. The country’s mining district is located south of the Orinoco River. The Orinoco Mining Arc is in an area of about 112,000 square kilometers that hosts gangs and cartels.
Venezuela’s minerals have important applications in technology and defense. Axios reports that the country has deposits of gallium, germanium, indium, tantalum, and silicon used in advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips and significant quantities of coltan, a metal used in smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles. Coltan is also essential for manufacturing tantalum capacitors used in advanced electronic systems, including military communications equipment, missile guidance computers, and radar systems.
According to Axios, Venezuela also has thorium, a metal that can be converted into fissile uranium-233 and used as a nuclear fuel. Venezuela is also rich in so-called “clean” energy minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel that can help power AI data centers. Rare earth elements are essential for producing the permanent magnets used in precision-guided munitions, aircraft control actuators, and a range of military electromagnetic systems. While rare earths are not rare and many countries have them, they require energy-intensive refining for which China has the expertise, using its cheap coal generators, and for which it has prepared for decades.
Reports on Venezuela’s Mineral Resources
In a U.S. Geological Survey report released in the 1990s, the survey documented more than 450 mines, prospects, and mineral occurrences in the Guyana Shield, the bulk of which were diamond and gold mines. The report also found “occurrences” of iron ore, bauxite, manganese, alluvial tin, titanium, barite, kaolin, dolomite, molybdenum, uranium, rare earth element minerals, and tungsten. Venezuela’s 2018 “minerals catalog” indicated that the country holds about three billion metric tons of coal, and almost 408,000 metric tons of nickel. The report also provided estimates of large amounts of gold, coltan, iron ore, nickel, bauxite, and diamonds. In 2012, then-President Chavez “directed” a state-owned Chinese company to do a full-scale geologic survey of the country’s mineral wealth, but China has not released the information. China may, therefore, have the best information about the minerals in the country, including some they may not have disclosed to Venezuela.
Investment in Venezuela’s Resources Is Scarce
Venezuela received only about $200,000 in exploration investment in 2025, much less than a percent of global exploration spending. Over the past decade, the most investment Venezuela received in a single year was $5 million in 2018, which was 0.05% of global exploration. To obtain more investment, the government would need to promote increased security in mining areas and reform mining legislation.
China’s Dominance in Critical Minerals
According to Renegade Resources, China controls between 60% and 95% of global processing capacity for most critical minerals and processes 91% of rare earth elements globally. These elements are key to everything from robotics to renewable energy infrastructure and defense. The Trump administration has attempted to diversify its mineral supply chain, buying stakes in American rare earths companies and giving out loans for mining so that the industry can eventually rely less on China. China has weaponized its dominance of global rare earth supplies by placing export controls on the resources to gain leverage in its trade war with the Trump administration. Though China suspended some of those controls after agreeing to a trade framework with the United States in November, the Trump administration has signed minerals deals with a number of countries, including Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and is pursuing mineral security domestically.
In November, the U.S. Geological Survey added 10 new minerals, including silver and copper, to its critical minerals list, now totaling 60 critical minerals, reflecting their strategic importance to the country’s economy and national security. In 2024, imports made up more than one-half of the U.S. consumption for 46 nonfuel mineral commodities, and the United States was 100% net import reliant for 15 of those. As Renegade Resources explains, these critical minerals are needed for modern weapons systems. When the Pentagon needs neodymium for permanent magnets in missile guidance systems, or tantalum for capacitors in radar equipment, or cobalt for superalloys in fighter jet engines, those materials pass through Chinese refineries.
China has established a deep footprint in Venezuela, buying most of the country’s oil exports at discounted rates and negotiating multibillion-dollar agreements for access to gold, coltan, and other minerals in the Orinoco Mining Arc as part of its Belt and Road strategy. The flow of material from Venezuelan mines to Chinese refineries runs through a mix of formal and shadow channels, with Chinese firms exerting operational control at the point of extraction.
Analysis
Critical minerals are the foundation of modern weapons systems and technologies necessary for modern life; so Chinese dominance of the supply chain creates vulnerabilities for U.S. manufacturers and weapon developers. While the Trump administration faces challenges in advancing investment in critical minerals in Venezuela, the outcome could be important to U.S. technological development and national security.
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