Overview
- Venezuela’s National Assembly, which passed the bill Thursday, sent the new mining law to acting President Delcy Rodríguez for signature and a likely high court review.
- The law repeals older rules and lets domestic and foreign companies mine gold and other strategic minerals under concessions of up to 30 years with two possible 10-year renewals.
- Mineral deposits remain state property, companies face royalties up to 13% and a separate tax up to 6%, disputes can go to arbitration, and the central bank gets first rights to buy domestically produced gold.
- The push follows renewed U.S. engagement as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited with mining executives and Washington eased restrictions, with officials on both sides promoting investor returns to Venezuela.
- Critics warn that conditions in the Orinoco Mining Arc—where armed groups, complicit security forces, and illegal miners operate—fuel deforestation and human rights abuses that new rules do not fix and could entrench.