Venezuela's Mining Opening: OFAC Reopens Gold to Western Trade — With the Cash in the U.S. Treasury
OFAC's June 10 amendment wave rewrote seven Venezuela licenses. The two mining ones —GL 51B and 54A— authorize trading and servicing Venezuelan gold via CVG Minerven, but route payment through the U.S. Treasury, bar new joint ventures and exclude China.
On June 10, 2026, OFAC replaced seven Venezuela general licenses in a single move. Two of them —GL 51B and GL 54A— are the mining piece: they let an established U.S. entity trade Venezuelan minerals, gold included, and supply the entire mining chain through state miner CVG Minerven. But the cash is routed into a U.S. Treasury account, forming new joint ventures is barred, and China is excluded. The constraint is no longer the license; it is the contract architecture and the traceability of the payment.
OFAC did not issue a standalone license: it rewrote seven at once —oil trade (46C), diluents (47A), goods and services to the energy sector (48B), operations of the Annex oil companies (50B), PdVSA transactions (52A), and the two mining licenses (51B and 54A)— and published two frequently asked questions, 1259 and 1260. All share the same template, which reveals a deliberate decision: to standardize the form in which doing business in Venezuela is authorized, not merely what is authorized.
Keep reading — free
Sign up and read 3 analyses a month, free
Create your reader account with your email. No password, no card.
Want no limits? Subscribe to Explorer from $19/mes