In early March, Maduro\u2019s replacement, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, met with mining executives \u2013 including several from the US \u2013 and promised<\/a> to move at \u201cTrump speed\u201d to unlock these riches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing so would require bringing order to an anarchic sector in which industrial mining is almost non-existent and production by state mining company Minerven is largely made up of minerals traded from artisanal mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite this opaque supply chain, a deal was announced<\/a> shortly after the meeting that would see Minerven sell one tonne of gold to the commodity trader Trafigura, which has also done major deals in Venezuelan oil since the US intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flows of gold from southern Venezuela had long been crucial in propping up<\/a> Maduro\u2019s cash-strapped regime. But in recent years, new commodities have begun to gain ground: critical minerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe gold in this area is already diminishing and there\u2019s little left,\u201d an Indigenous miner told <\/a>Amazon Underworld<\/a>, an investigative outlet that visited the region in mid-2025. \u201cNow people are working mostly on these things: black sands, tin, coltan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of these resources ultimately end up in China, which controls 91% of global rare earth processing. Recent actions by the US under Donald Trump suggests his administration wants this to change. \u201cThe US wants to prevent China from accessing these resources, but they also want access themselves,\u201d Bram Ebus, director of Amazon Underworld, tells Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the ground in Venezuela, black sands appear to be little more than coarse dirt. They sell for around USD 7.50 per kg. But they contain important traces of rare earth elements, crucial for renewable technologies, as well as advanced electronics and military hardware. They are mined in areas also rich in cassiterite, the source of tin used in the solder for electronic appliances, and coltan, which ends up in semiconductors and mobile phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are 17 varieties of heavy metal chemical elements distributed throughout Earth\u2019s crust. Worldwide, there are 110 million tonnes<\/a> of rare earths reserves, estimated the US Geological Survey in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rare earths all have similar but unusual chemical and physical properties<\/a> that make them critical for many modern technologies. For example, gadolinium<\/a> is used in nuclear power reactors, while scandium<\/a> finds use in vehicle fuel cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rare earth elements fall under the broader term of critical minerals, which are key ingredients for modern technology. For example, the critical mineral lithium is vital for electric vehicle batteries, while nickel is used in stainless steel.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n US interest in these resources has so far been understated compared to its vocal promotion<\/a> of Venezuelan oil. But the spectre of the White House has been present since the early days of the US intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have steel, you have minerals \u2013 all the critical minerals. They have a great mining history that\u2019s gone rusty,\u201d the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, <\/a>told journalists<\/a> the day after Maduro\u2019s capture. \u201cPresident Trump is going to fix it and bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He provided no details about how this would happen in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Industrialising Venezuela\u2019s minerals sector would be a still more daunting task than restoring its dilapidated oil infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reserves cover a vast swathe of territory in the remote southern states of Bol\u00edvar and Amazonas. In 2016, Maduro designated<\/a> 112,000 sq km of this area the \u201cOrinoco mining arc\u201d, and later announced plans to <\/a>trade<\/a> minerals with China and other members of the BRICS bloc<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is still no formal geological mapping of these mineral reserves, however, and commercial mining infrastructure remains all but non-existent. Instead, excavation is carried out by local miners using rudimentary techniques such as dredging rivers from makeshift barges and digging shallow holes. The miners include thousands of Indigenous people, whose marginalised economic position forces them into an economy that poses a severe threat to their ancestral lands and ways of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from a lack of oversight and regulation, miners also work in conditions of chronic insecurity. Many operations take place under the control of armed groups, including Colombia\u2019s National Liberation Army (ELN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon Underworld\u2019s research details<\/a> how mining communities are subjected to systematic human rights abuses, including summary executions, forced labour, child recruitment and sexual violence. Freedom of movement is restricted. Punishments are imposed upon miners accused of theft or insubordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey have a prison there, with barbed wire and everything,\u201d one miner told researchers. \u201cBut you can\u2019t do anything about it, because if you do, they\u2019ll throw you in there, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly brutal conditions have long been documented<\/a> in Venezuela\u2019s illegal gold sector, alongside deforestation and mercury poisoning of rivers. But the rise of critical minerals is creating new dangers, for both the environment and human health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what disaster is coming, because everyone is searching for these rare earth elements, digging holes everywhere, making it look like a ravaged field,\u201d Venezuelan environmental journalist Fritz S\u00e1nchez tells Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indigenous miners have reported adverse health impacts, adds S\u00e1nchez: \u201cThey have skin burns. They have persistent joint pain, swollen joints and a series of pathologies associated with the radioactivity of the minerals.\u201d Due to the lack of clinics in these remote areas, such claims cannot be medically documented, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Amazon Underworld\u2019s investigations, Venezuelan state forces collaborate with Colombian guerrillas in this shadow economy. Mineral ores must be moved in bulk, with kickbacks paid to local military who permit or facilitate the transport. The Venezuelan government recently refused to comment<\/a> on allegations of criminal activity in its mining sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon Underworld discovered that some of the ores are sold to traders, who move them across the border into Colombia. There, they are processed and exported using fraudulent customs codes. Another portion is sold to collection hubs set up in 2023 by another state mining company, the Venezuelan Mining Corporation (CVM), then shipped. Export documents and testimonies collected by Amazon Underworld indicate that via both routes, most<\/a> of the minerals ultimately reach China<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due diligence <\/a>guidelines<\/a> issued by the China Chamber of Commerce for Metals, Minerals and Chemicals aim to mitigate human rights and environmental risks linked to mineral supply chains. However, these guidelines are voluntary. And the export documents demonstrate that these minerals from troubled regions like Venezuela can still reach Chinese industrial hubs with relative ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawlessness of the region presents an issue for any companies seeking to invest. That has not prevented the Venezuelan government from pushing for more mining. Two weeks after the US action, Rodr\u00edguez announced<\/a> plans to increase gold production by 30% during 2026, alongside iron, bauxite and critical minerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results can be seen on the ground. \u201cFuel is flooding to these mining areas, and none of this mining would happen if they didn’t have access to fuel,\u201d Cristina Burelli, director of the NGO <\/a>SOS Orinoco<\/a>, tells Dialogue Earth. \u201cWhen [Rodr\u00edguez] says \u2018we\u2019re going to increase mining,\u2019 it\u2019s a signal to just keep doing what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon Underworld\u2019s Ebus says US mining companies are unlikely to rush to invest in a sector fraught with legal and security challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of the mining takes place in protected areas, including the Yapacana national park in Amazonas; mining is entirely outlawed<\/a> in the state. As per Venezuela\u2019s constitution, mining in Bol\u00edvar state requires consultation<\/a> with Indigenous communities \u2013 who would likely oppose large-scale extraction on their ancestral lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think what\u2019s more plausible is that the US will buy from Venezuelan state companies and then refine in the US, and basically pretend they don\u2019t know it\u2019s coming from illegal mines,\u201d Ebus says.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBlack sands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\",](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20250125_Nicolas-Maduro_sworn-in-ceremony_Andres-Gonzalez_dpa_Alamy-2S46YPA.jpg\")
<\/div>Executions, forced labour and child workers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>Production on the rise?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n