Trump Eyes Venezuela’s Mineral Reserves Amid Global Supply

President Donald Trump has announced that U.S. companies will gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. However, the country’s other commodities, particularly minerals, are also attracting attention. Experts believe Venezuela holds significant quantities of metals and rare earth elements, which are essential for various industries, including defense and technology. The Trump administration has emphasized the importance of securing these raw materials for U.S. national security.

However, experts argue that while the U.S. may seek these resources, challenges remain. The quantity and economic viability of Venezuela’s mineral resources are unclear, and mining operations face risks, including security concerns and environmental damage.

Security and Environmental Risks in Venezuela’s Mining Sector

Many of Venezuela’s mineral-rich regions are plagued by security issues. Armed guerrilla groups and illegal mining activities pose risks for legal mining operations. Moreover, mining rare earth elements requires energy-intensive processes, which can cause environmental harm.

“There is an awareness within the administration that even beyond oil, there’s wider natural resource value in the country,” said Reed Blakemore, director of research at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. “However, the conditions under which we can exploit those resources and bring them to market are much more challenging,” Blakemore added.

China’s Monopoly on Rare Earths Refining

Even if U.S. companies mine Venezuela’s rare earths, they face another obstacle: refining. China currently controls over 90% of global rare earths refining, according to the International Energy Agency. Due to decades of government subsidies and industry expansion, China has built a near-monopoly in processing rare earths.

Rare earths have become a significant point of contention in U.S.-China trade relations. Beijing has implemented export controls on rare earths during past trade disputes, which raised concerns about America’s reliance on China for these critical materials.

“China still holds near-singular capacity to process rare earth metals, and that industrial and geopolitical edge cannot be overcome overnight,” said Joel Dodge, director of industrial policy and economic security at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.

Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) lists 60 “critical minerals” that are vital to America’s economy and national security. These include essential materials like aluminum, cobalt, copper, and nickel. The list also features 15 rare earth elements, such as cerium, dysprosium, neodymium, and samarium. These elements are crucial in everyday technologies like smartphones and military equipment, including fighter jets and missiles.

While rare earth elements are abundant in the Earth’s crust, their extraction and refining are challenging and costly. U.S. lawmakers have voiced concerns about America’s dependence on foreign imports of these materials. Efforts to develop domestic rare earths mining are ongoing, but these projects face long timelines and significant hurdles.

Venezuela’s Untapped Mineral Potential

Venezuela is not currently on the USGS list of countries with rare earth elements, which includes China, the U.S., Brazil, and Greenland. However, experts believe Venezuela has vast untapped deposits of critical minerals like coltan, bauxite, tantalum, niobium, aluminum, and gallium.

In 2009, former President Hugo Chávez claimed that Venezuela had discovered a large reserve of coltan, which he called “blue gold.” In 2016, President Nicolás Maduro established the Orinoco Mining Arc, a region designated for mineral exploration. However, the area has been plagued by illegal mining and security challenges.

Sung Choi, a metals and mining analyst at BloombergNEF, noted that while Venezuela has significant mineral deposits, the country’s lack of geological data, low-skilled labor, and organized crime hinder its ability to play a meaningful role in the global critical minerals sector. “Despite its current geological potential, Venezuela is unlikely to play any meaningful role in the critical minerals sector at least for the next decade,” Choi said.