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Brendan Cole and John Feng
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President Donald Trump has touted the potential of Venezuela’s oil industry following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, but the country has minerals, metals and potentially rare earth elements which will be of U.S. interest as a Newsweek map shows the key area of the country rich in resources.
Venezuela is believed to have deposits of several minerals classified as critical by the U.S. Geological Survey, including coltan—a tantalum- and niobium-bearing mineral—and bauxite, the primary ore of aluminum.
However, Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist for BCA Research, told Newsweek it could take many years to establish a stable government in Venezuela and attract substantial private interest to develop natural resources.
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Why It Matters
As well as the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela has large natural gas reserves, and untapped minerals including gold.
Oil has been the focus of Trump’s comments about Venezuela’s resource potential, although an Exxon chief who spoke with the president at the White House last week raised caveats about investing and developing the country’s dilapidated infrastructure.
But other commodities such as minerals, metals and possible rare earths, which the Trump administration has been focused on elsewhere in the world, could offer further developmental potential for the U.S.
What To Know
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters Venezuela possessed significant amounts of critical minerals and a "great mining history that’s gone rusty," which he believed the Trump administration could fix.
This offers another avenue for American investment, in addition to developing the world’s largest proven oil reserves whose potential is hampered by old infrastructure.
The USGS does not list Venezuela among countries with confirmed rare earth element reserves, and comprehensive geological data are limited after decades of underinvestment in mining exploration during the tenures of presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro.
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Venezuela holds the largest official gold reserves in Latin America, totaling about 161.2 metric tons, according to the World Gold Council. At current prices, those reserves are valued at roughly $23 billion, and additional resources remain undeveloped.
In 2011, Chavez announced the Orinoco Mining Arc to explore and export metals, including gold, as shown by Newsweek’s map. In February 2016, Maduro looked to further develop this area rich in diamonds, nickel, coltan and copper reserves which stretches over 112,000 square kilometers but where gangs and cartels are prevalent.
While tantalum, niobium, aluminum and gallium all appear on recent USGS critical minerals lists, the agency does not list Venezuela among countries with confirmed rare earth element reserves. Geological data on the country’s broader mineral potential remain incomplete, reflecting decades of underinvestment and limited modern surveying.
A Venezuelan government minerals catalog published in 2018 estimated total iron ore resources of 14.68 billion metric tons, including 3.6 billion metric tons of proven reserves, as well as 99.4 million metric tons of bauxite.
The Orinoco Mining Arc is also believed to contain nickel, diamonds, copper and coal. Official estimates cite roughly 408,000 metric tons of nickel and more than 1 billion carats of diamonds in the Orinoco Mining Arc, with an additional 275 million carats reported in Guaniamo, though independent verification is limited. The country also has certified coal reserves of roughly 3 billion metric tons.
Roukaya Ibrahim, chief commodities strategist, at BCA Research told Newsweek that the mining cycle timeline is typically longer than the oil field development timeline and it can take decades for production to begin after the initial discovery and exploration, and development/construction phases.
"Meanwhile, the current infrastructure will require meaningful upgrades following years of underinvestment," said Ibrahim, "therefore, the development of Venezuela’s mineral sector will be a very long-term endeavor."
What People Are Saying
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said of Venezuela: "You have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals, they have great mining history that’s gone rusty, President Trump is going to fix it and bring it back."
Joel Dodge, director of industrial policy and economic security at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, told CNN that China had "near-singular capacity to process rare earth metals, and that industrial and geopolitical edge cannot be overcome overnight."
Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist for BCA Research, told Newsweek: "The market impact is limited in the near term because it will take many years to establish new and stable government in Venezuela and attract substantial private interest to develop natural resources and revitalize exports."
Gertken added: "These things are likely to happen over the long run, however, since no group of Venezuelan policymakers have any alternative: they have witnessed that the Bolivarian revolution led to economic collapse, social instability, and foreign military intervention."
What Happens Next
Although Trump has stated his ambitions to tap Venezuela's oil, his administration's approach toward the country's other resources remains unclear. Also, if the minerals can be extracted, there are other obstacles, with China accounting for more than 90 percent of rare earths refining in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency.
Meanwhile, it would take years to establish a stable government in Caracas and generate the private investment required to develop the country's natural resources and export, Gertken told Newsweek.
Update 1/13/26, 11:04 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Roukaya Ibrahim.
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