Venezuela's National Assembly passed an initial vote Monday on a sweeping overhaul of the country's mining laws, advancing legislation that would open the sector to private and foreign investment for the first time in decades. The preliminary vote marks the first of two required debates before the bill can be signed into law, and it follows a high-level visit from U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that made clear Washington's appetite for access to Venezuela's substantial mineral reserves.

The bill, according to a draft reviewed by multiple news organizations, repeals a 1999 mining regulatory framework and replaces it with a modernized structure that allows foreign and domestic companies to extract gold, diamonds, coltan, bauxite, and rare earth elements. Mineral concessions would be extended from 20 to 30 years. The draft also establishes an independent arbitration mechanism for dispute resolution between investors and the state — a provision that foreign companies, many of which lost assets to nationalization under the late Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro, have long sought as a precondition for re-entry.

The measure was backed by a majority of lawmakers in the ruling socialist party-controlled legislature, though at least one opposition bloc abstained, complaining that the text had been delivered minutes before the session began. Jorge Rodríguez, the assembly's president and brother of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, dismissed the objection, saying all legislators had received the draft at the same time.

Burgum's Visit and U.S. Pressure

The bill's accelerated timeline tracks directly to Burgum's two-day visit to Caracas, which concluded March 5. During the trip, Burgum met with interim President Delcy Rodríguez at the Miraflores presidential palace, where the two discussed the conditions necessary for U.S. companies to re-engage with Venezuela's mining sector. Burgum leads Trump's National Energy Dominance Council, which includes more than 20 U.S.-based mining and mineral companies — many of which had previously operated in Venezuela before the nationalization wave.

"When we are working together, it can only mean two things, which is prosperity for the people of Venezuela and for the citizens of the United States, and it also brings peace and stability for the world," Burgum told reporters. He said U.S. companies were "eager to get started" and indicated they could bring billions of dollars in investment and thousands of high-paying jobs to the country if the regulatory environment moved in the right direction.

The day after Burgum's visit concluded, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a sanctions license authorizing transactions involving Venezuelan-origin gold, permitting dealings with Minerven — the state-owned gold mining company — and its subsidiaries, provided that contracts are governed by U.S. law. The license prohibits Venezuelan gold from being exchanged with Cuba, North Korea, Iran, or Russia, and requires payments to flow through Treasury-managed Foreign Government Deposit Funds, the same mechanism used for Venezuelan oil proceeds.

Venezuela's gold output in 2025 totaled nearly 9.5 tonnes, according to the government, though much extraction continues to occur through informal and illegal channels.

The Minerals at Stake

The legislative push is rooted in the breadth of Venezuela's untapped mineral wealth. In addition to gold, the country holds significant deposits of coltan, from which niobium and tantalum are processed — both classified as critical minerals by the U.S. and essential to the production of smartphones, electric vehicle batteries, and advanced electronics. Bauxite, processed into aluminum — another U.S.-listed critical mineral — is also present in substantial quantities, along with diamonds and copper.

Potential lithium reserves have been discussed by government officials and some analysts, though formal geological exploration has not yet been conducted to verify or quantify them. Analysts maintain that Venezuela may hold one of the largest undocumented gold reserves in the world, though the country's geological survey infrastructure remains limited. Much of the current extraction takes place in a zone known as the Orinoco Mining Arc, a vast area in southern and central Venezuela where artisanal mining, criminal gangs, and guerrilla-linked groups from neighboring Colombia have long operated with the tacit involvement of military officials.

Demand for critical minerals globally is projected to quadruple by 2040, driven by the expansion of electric vehicle manufacturing and clean energy deployment, according to the International Energy Agency.

A Broader Shift Since Maduro's Removal

The mining bill is the second major economic overhaul Rodríguez has advanced since taking power following Maduro's capture by U.S. special forces in January. In late January, she signed into law a reform of Venezuela's oil sector that lowered taxes, expanded the oil ministry's decision-making authority, and created a framework for private foreign investment in the industry — a stark departure from the nationalization policies that defined the prior two decades of socialist rule.

Rodríguez, who was a close Maduro loyalist before his removal, has moved with notable speed to align with Washington's demands. Trump has praised her publicly, writing on Truth Social in early March that she is doing "a great job" and "working with U.S. Representatives very well." Venezuelan officials have used the phrase "Trump speed" to describe the pace at which they are moving both the oil and mining reforms through the legislative process.

Lawmaker Orlando Camacho, a member of the Energy and Petroleum commission who read the bill's introductory note into the record, said the reforms "can help increase all the legal guarantees that allow us to give confidence to national and international investment." Rodríguez has framed the bill as modeled on the oil reform, which she has cited as a template for opening Venezuela's resource sectors to outside capital.

Complications and Outstanding Questions

The bill's path from preliminary vote to enacted law is not without obstacles. A second legislative debate is required before it can take effect, and no date has been set for that session. The government has also announced the merger of the Corporación Venezolana de Minería with Minerven, consolidating state oversight of the sector under a single expanded entity in advance of the expected regulatory changes.

On the ground, the Orinoco Mining Arc presents persistent governance challenges. Armed groups, including Colombian guerrilla factions, have operated illegal mining networks in the area for years, often with the involvement of Venezuelan military and state officials who extract cuts from mining revenue in exchange for access to fuel, equipment, and transportation routes. A cross-border investigative report published in early March documented the continued involvement of both Colombian guerrilla organizations and Venezuelan state-linked actors in illegal mineral extraction across parts of the Amazon basin.

Venezuela also carries outstanding debt to foreign mining companies that lost assets in prior nationalization rounds, including Crystallex, Gold Reserve, and Rusoro Mining — obligations the new framework does not directly address. Foreign investors and legal observers have pointed to those unresolved claims as a potential friction point for new entrants, even under a more favorable regulatory structure. Analysts have noted that the reform's ultimate success will depend on the government's ability to deliver legal certainty, control illegal mining operations, and conduct the geological surveys necessary to formally establish the scale of the country's mineral resources.