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The Trump administration is seeking greater U.S. access to Venezuela\u2019s minerals, including gold, as it expands its push to gain control and influence over the South \u200bAmerican country\u2019s vast natural resources beyond oil, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.<\/strong><\/p>\n The effort could open the Venezuelan mining sector to U.S. investment and give U.S. companies \u200caccess to not only oil, but supplies of minerals crucial for national security, the sources said on condition of anonymity.<\/span><\/p>\n It would also expand President Donald Trump\u2019s push to more closely align Venezuela\u2019s resources with Washington\u2019s strategic and economic interests in the wake of the U.S. military\u2019s ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a raid in January.<\/span><\/p>\n The Trump administration is considering a range of steps to increase U.S. involvement in Venezuela\u2019s mining sector, including a possible executive order focused on critical minerals, the sources said. \u200bThe order is still being drafted and the administration\u2019s strategy to secure minerals in Venezuela could yet change, they added.<\/span><\/p>\n U.S. officials have also held meetings with companies to gauge interest in investing in \u200bor otherwise participating in Venezuela\u2019s mining sector, the sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are all watching the oil situation closely and recognize there could be a parallel track with critical \u2060minerals,\u201d said one of the sources, an executive from a critical minerals firm who met with the administration about Venezuela.<\/span><\/p>\n Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said the U.S. and Venezuela are \u201cbenefiting from renewed cooperation between \u200bour governments and new investments by Western companies in Venezuela\u2019s key industries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A White House official told Reuters that there is no current need for an executive order, adding the administration believes current laws provide a solid framework \u200bfor investment.<\/span><\/p>\n The effort fits into Trump\u2019s broader strategy of reasserting U.S. influence across Latin America and pushing back against China\u2019s expanding economic footprint in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n Maduro, a socialist who is being held in a federal jail in New York City on charges of drug trafficking, which he denies, had developed strong economic and diplomatic ties with China. Maduro\u2019s vice president and ally, Delcy Rodriguez, has pivoted and increased cooperation with the U.S. since becoming Venezuela\u2019s interim president after his ouster.<\/span><\/p>\n With its enormous oil reserves \u200band potentially significant deposits of gold and other minerals, Venezuela offers the Trump administration an opportunity to tie resource access to its national security and economic agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n The administration has already taken steps to open Venezuela\u2019s minerals \u200bsector to U.S. business.<\/span><\/p>\n In March, the U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control authorized certain transactions involving Venezuelan-origin gold, including activities tied to state-owned gold miner Minerven. Later that month, Treasury broadened the authorization to cover Venezuelan-origin minerals, \u200cincluding gold, while \u2060allowing some mining-related services and negotiations of potential investment contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n The moves have created a framework for U.S. companies to pursue opportunities in Venezuela\u2019s mining sector as the administration seeks to revive investment while expanding U.S. sway over the country\u2019s oil industry.<\/span><\/p>\n Trump already has moved aggressively to reshape Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. Last week, he announced a deal under which the U.S. would take majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela\u2019s proven oil reserves, although the precise legal structure of that arrangement has not been disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n There are, however, fears within Venezuela that Trump is turning the country into a modern-day colony.<\/span><\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s mineral potential remains difficult to \u200bassess because much of its geological data is outdated \u200band illegal groups control gold deposits in the \u2060Orinoco Mining Arc, a vast area near the country\u2019s borders with Guyana and Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n While Venezuela has produced gold, iron ore, bauxite and nickel, mining companies and investors are likely to seek updated geological studies before making significant new investments, analysts have said, given the uncertainty surrounding its mineral estimates, weak infrastructure and pervasive illegal \u200bmining.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2012, Venezuelan officials declined to renew Anglo American\u2019s (AAL.L), opens new tab mining concession for the Loma de Niquel nickel mine, which at the time was estimated to hold \u200breserves of more than 4 \u2060million metric tons of the metal. The Venezuelan government took control of the assets and has been trying to resume operations ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n A 2018 Venezuelan government report estimated the country\u2019s resources at 644 metric tons of gold, 14.68 billion metric tons of iron ore, 321.5 million metric tons of bauxite and 407,885 metric tons of nickel. But the report used terms such as \u201creserve\u201d and \u201cresource\u201d interchangeably, making it difficult to determine how much could be economically extracted.<\/span><\/p>\n A 2021 \u2060Venezuelan government map, \u200bbased on data compiled in 2009, identified deposits of numerous other minerals, including copper, nickel, coltan, uranium and tungsten, but did \u200bnot provide volumes.<\/span><\/p>\n The country does not appear to have sizeable reserves of rare earths, which are used in magnets and other advanced technologies.<\/span><\/p>\nFURTHER STUDY OF MINERAL RESOURCES NEEDED<\/span><\/h2>\n