U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday that Venezuela’s government has pledged to protect foreign companies seeking to invest in the country’s mineral sector, wrapping up a two-day visit to Caracas that advanced the Trump administration’s effort to build alternative critical-mineral supplies as competition with China over key raw materials continues.
Burgum said acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who took office in January after U.S. forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro, acknowledged concerns about security risks in areas long controlled by guerrillas, criminal gangs and military officials who profit from illegal extraction.
“We heard assurances in the meeting today and yesterday that if companies wanted to get to these areas, do due diligence, think about reopening mines, maybe even getting back to mines that they themselves were running 15 or 20 years ago, that this government would ensure their security,” Burgum told reporters at Maiquetía airport at the end of his visit.
The outreach is part of a broader U.S. drive to secure alternative supplies of materials used in electric vehicles, weapons systems and electronics, as competition with China over critical mineral supply chains intensifies following Beijing’s export restrictions put in place last year.
Rodríguez separately announced she would ask Venezuela’s legislature to overhaul the country’s mining law to create conditions favorable to foreign investment. She said the changes would mirror a recently approved oil industry reform that opened the door to privatization—a departure from a foundational tenet of the socialist movement that has governed Venezuela for more than two decades.
“I believe the steps we are taking demonstrate the goodwill to build this cooperation agenda in the energy and mining sectors, which will strengthen relations between our two countries for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the people of the United States,” Rodríguez said on state television.
Venezuela’s mineral resources and the obstacles to developing them
Venezuela holds reserves of gold, copper, coltan, bauxite and diamonds. Coltan yields niobium and tantalum—both designated critical minerals by the United States and essential components for smartphones and electric vehicle batteries. Bauxite is processed into aluminum, which the U.S. also classifies as a critical mineral.
Exploiting those resources legally presents significant challenges. Large areas of the country’s interior are controlled by criminal groups, guerrillas and armed irregulars who take cuts of mining revenue in exchange for allowing access to fuel, equipment and transportation. Unsafe working conditions are widespread in the poorly regulated sector, and ordinary Venezuelans have long traveled to mining zones hoping to escape poverty, even as criminal organizations and military officials profit from the operations.
The Maduro government established a large mining development zone in Venezuela’s central interior in 2016 to supplement declining oil revenues, spurring a proliferation of wildcat mines operating under dangerous conditions. Many foreign companies that invested in Venezuela’s mining and oil sectors saw their assets expropriated roughly two decades ago under policies of the country’s socialist governments.
The China competition
The Trump administration’s outreach to Caracas accelerated in part to counter China’s grip on critical mineral supply chains. Beijing tightened exports of rare earths and other materials after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs. Though the two countries subsequently reached a partial truce that rolled back some measures, China’s export limits remain tighter than they were before Trump took office, according to the Associated Press.
Burgum, who chairs Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, framed Venezuela’s entrenched illegal mining economy as an opening rather than a barrier. He said the unlawful activity had “created an economic opportunity where there was none,” but argued that legitimate foreign investment would bring a “superior economic opportunity.”
Burgum is the latest in a series of senior U.S. officials to visit Caracas since Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces brought Rodríguez to power roughly two months ago.