A demonstrator holds a US and Venezuelan flag outside the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, January 3, 2026. President Nicolas Maduro has been charged in the US after he was captured and flown out of Venezuela, following a series of airstrikes that mark an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s months-long campaign against the country. Photo by Nicole Combeau/UPI
March 10 (UPI) — Venezuela’s National Assembly approved in a first debate a new mining bill aimed at attracting foreign capital and offering stronger legal guarantees for the exploitation of the country’s mineral resources.
Lawmakers convened Monday, a few days after the United States and Venezuela resumed diplomatic relations that had been severed since 2019.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has said her government seeks to build a long-term cooperation agenda with Washington in areas including energy, mining and counternarcotics following the Jan. 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Orlando Camacho, president of the Assembly’s Energy and Petroleum Committee, said the bill reflects that “one of the potentialities Venezuela possesses is its mineral wealth across the national territory,” according to Globovisión.
Camacho said several provisions address key issues such as mineral resource management, the designation of strategic minerals, state reserves and security zones, as well as sustainable development, environmental protection, land-use planning and economic balance.
The law would allow the use of independent mediation and arbitration mechanisms to resolve disputes, provided that all domestic legal remedies are exhausted first.
“It is also fundamental that everyone be included, small-scale mining, medium-scale mining and large-scale mining. That is why this law also seeks to strengthen the role of the Mines Ministry, clearly defining its functions so it can regulate, direct and organize all activity,” Camacho told local broadcaster UN24.
The mining proposal follows a recent oil sector reform that allows greater private participation in Venezuela’s energy industry. That reform was approved after Maduro’s arrest.
The legislative debate took place days after U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Caracas, accompanied by a delegation of business leaders interested in the energy and mining sectors.
The U.S. Treasury Department later issued a license authorizing certain activities related to the exploitation and commercialization of Venezuelan gold by U.S. companies, a sector previously subject to sanctions.
Before the parliamentary debate, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said the reform seeks to allow “large foreign companies to enter for the exploitation of gold, diamonds and so-called rare earth elements.”
In an interview published on journalist Luis Olavarrieta’s YouTube channel, Rodríguez said the Assembly plans to pass about 34 laws this year to support what he described as the government’s economic reform process.
Venezuela holds significant reserves of strategic minerals in the Orinoco Mining Arc, a vast resource-rich region in southern Venezuela, and in other areas. However, the sector has faced constraints under a 2016 decree that reserved the exploration and exploitation of gold and other key minerals to the state, digital outlet Efecto Cocuyo reported.
According to that outlet, some analysts say the new initiative strengthens the opening to private and international investment with an emphasis on environmental sustainability and compliance with international standards. Critics and independent observers warn of potential environmental and social risks for Indigenous communities and protected areas if strict safeguards are not enforced.