SECTOR · MINING
Mining Sector
The mining sector —gold, iron, bauxite and coltan— is Venezuela's second hard-currency axis after oil, centered on the Orinoco Mining Arc and the state-owned CVG.
VE Pulses
17Machado returns to Caracas with no public guarantees from the government and outside the dialogue table
Until Saturday, the opposition leader was trying to return from Panama; since Sunday she is in Caracas, with a travel ban and a disqualification that, by reported accounts, remain in force, and outside a table that put off electoral council reform.
The State Department swears in the Maduro case that only Delcy Rodríguez can act for Venezuela
March's recognition rested on a statement and a speech by Trump. Since Friday the 2nd it rests on a sworn declaration, which prosecutors in New York are using to deny Maduro head-of-state immunity.
One Planta Centro unit in Carabobo carries almost half of Corpoelec's 1,300-megawatt plan
The state power company's plan adds 1,300 megawatts through December from existing units returning to service. It does not say how many of the 4,800 thermal megawatts the acting president set in August for year-end are already online.
Stripe backs dollar accounts for Venezuelans under a humanitarian OFAC license expiring October 23
Two apps offer users in Venezuela virtual accounts with US account numbers, backed by Bridge, Stripe's subsidiary, and by Lead Bank. UglyCash credited its return to the humanitarian channel opened after the June earthquake, and its contract limits deposits to that aid.
Freight from José to the Gulf went from $1.90 to $5 a barrel and it is pressing the price of Merey
Until now the argument about the Venezuelan barrel was how much gets produced and who buys it. The cost of moving it has multiplied two and a half times in nine months, and the houses that ship more than half of exports want that difference taken out of the price.
The IDB puts Venezuela's power grid in a two-year plan and the debt owed to the bank stays undated
The bank stopped approving new loans to Venezuela in May 2018. Its president described on Monday the missions preparing the document for the next two years, without saying how the overdue payments get settled or when disbursement could resume.
Heeney Capital takes El Callao's gold in Guayana with a concession
In May, the same parties signed a memorandum of understanding over that district; on Wednesday, in Houston, they signed the concession. Between one instrument and the other lies a difference of legal category, and it decides whether a right can be enforced.
The signature for PDVSA changes in the Delaware case auctioning Citgo's parent
On May 11 the court record noted the removal of three Arnold & Porter attorneys. On Tuesday a one-partner Wilmington firm appeared for Petroleos de Venezuela. The sale the judge authorized has still not closed.
The United States supplies the naphtha Venezuela uses to thin the crude it then sells back
The US under secretary of energy put a number on both directions of the flow: more than 500,000 barrels a day of crude leave for that country's refineries, and more than 100,000 of naphtha come in so the crude can move at all.
The license it was missing: Washington clears India's state company ONGC to operate in Venezuela
ONGC now holds the permit it was missing to operate in Venezuela; what it still lacks is the assigned field, and that is not signed in Washington.
The IMF's first visit to Caracas in twenty years starts with the books, not with credit
A country whose books no one has reviewed since 2004 cannot receive structured funding; that the Fund starts with method and statistics says what is missing before any program exists.
The ruling party goes from saying it had no time for the CNE to negotiating it in 72 hours
This week, whoever decides Venezuela's electoral referee, finances its reconstruction, and audits the spending and the political prisoners is never the Venezuelan state acting alone.
The only thing the quake did not touch in Venezuela is the oil; everything else now leans more on Washington
The quake did not change the weight the U.S. already had on Venezuela; it made it more visible. The emergency added U.S. military and logistical presence —accepted by Caracas— over a country whose oil till, untouched by the quake, is already managed in part from abroad.
Venezuela opens the week on three fronts: Brazil at the table, a fight over its debt, and the U.S. in its gold mines
Last week the opening produced signatures; now it measures who governs it: whether the table with Brazil leaves deals, whether the debt is awarded on a process not by hand, and under what architecture —with the U.S. inside— the gold flows.
Washington rewrites the rules of Venezuela's oil and gold into a single framework, with an explicit veto on Chinese capital
The opening is no longer a collection of permits but a regime: wider than ever, administered in Washington and revocable with a single signature.
The U.S. blockades Venezuela's sanctioned crude by sea and presses on its oil law, as a Middle East truce cheapens the barrel
Washington controls all four levers of Venezuela's oil revenue —cash, rules, route and now the price— so its record export volume decides less and less.
Venezuela opens its power sector to private capital, sends Rodríguez to India for petrodollars and hires lawyers for its defaulted debt
Venezuela sells its oil at the fastest pace in years, yet opens to private capital the electricity it cannot sustain, seeks capital in India and adds lawyers to its debt rework: the flow grows, the capital to run it does not appear.
Analysis
03Venezuela: the spoils of the century — who collects for the oil and the gold
The United States needs Venezuelan crude and still set the terms; the money goes into Treasury accounts and in eight months neither government has published the balance. For the country that invented the fifty-fifty and founded OPEC, that is the most uncomfortable fact.
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.
Mercuria lands in Venezuelan mining with US$5.2 billion pipeline: what a global trader sees that the major miners do not
The first public commitment by a global trader to Venezuelan mining did not come from a miner: Mercuria signed offtakes with Heeney Capital worth US$2.2 billion a year in gold and bulk commodities, with US$3 billion more under negotiation. It is a commitment to buy output that already exists, not to explore — and that distinction is the point.
Sector Briefs
01OFAC Licenses
10GL 54C — Supply of Items and Services for Coal or Minerals Operations in Venezuela
Authorizes the provision from the United States or by a U.S. person of goods, technology, software, or services for the exploration, development, mining, extraction, processing, refining, or production of coal or minerals —including gold— in Venezuela, in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela, Carbozulia and CVG Minerven. As of September 2, 2026, coal enters the same perimeter that already covered gold. It authorizes supplying and maintaining the operation, not forming joint ventures to exploit it. Supersedes GL 54B.
GL 55A — Contingent Contracts for Investment in Venezuela’s Coal or Minerals Sectors
Authorizes negotiating and entering into contingent contracts for new investment in Venezuela’s coal or minerals sectors —including gold— provided that performance is expressly contingent upon separate authorization from OFAC. As of September 2, 2026, coal enters the same perimeter that already covered gold. It is the first amendment to GL 55 since March 2026. Supersedes GL 55.
GL 51D — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Coal or Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin coal or minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela, Carbones del Zulia S.A. (Carbozulia) and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. As of September 2, 2026, coal enters the same perimeter that already covered gold. Conditions are unchanged: disputes in the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore, and payments routed through Treasury. Supersedes GL 51C.
GL 51C — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Treasury payment routing remains. Supersedes GL 51B.
GL 54B — Goods and Services for Minerals Operations in Venezuela
Authorizes the supply from the U.S. or by a U.S. person of goods, technology, software or services for exploration, development, mining, extraction, processing, refining and production of minerals —including gold— in Venezuela, via CVG Minerven. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Does NOT authorize forming new mining joint ventures. Supersedes GL 54A.
GL 51B — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. Subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Supersedes GL 51A.
GL 54A — Goods and Services for Minerals Operations in Venezuela
Authorizes the supply from the U.S. or by a U.S. person of goods, technology, software or services for exploration, development, mining, extraction, processing, refining and production of minerals —including gold— in Venezuela, via CVG Minerven. Does NOT authorize forming new mining joint ventures. Supersedes GL 54.
GL 51A — Venezuelan-Origin Gold Transactions
Amended version of GL 51 authorizing transactions with Venezuelan-origin gold under certified chain of custody and quarterly OFAC reporting.
GL 55 — Contingent Contracts for Investment in Venezuela’s Minerals Sector
Complements GL 54 authorizing technical services, heavy equipment, and environmental consulting to the Venezuelan mining sector.
GL 54 — Mining Sector (Gold and Non-Precious Minerals)
Authorizes operations in the Venezuelan mining sector including coltan, iron, bauxite, and gold outside the Orinoco Mining Arc.
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