September 15, 2026 | Mongabay
In January, U.S. armed forces removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office and began opening the country’s mining sector to foreign investment. Over the following eight months, authorities introduced mining reforms, dismantled some criminal-group leadership structures, and carried out raids on illegal mining sites. Despite these measures, observers say the illegal mining crisis has continued to worsen, with mining activity expanding during the year, including in protected areas, and criminal groups involved in the sector strengthening their control across parts of the country.

April 10, 2026 | Mongabay
Venezuela has passed a new mining law aimed at attracting foreign investment and formalizing the extraction of gold, silver, coltan and other minerals, while promoting “ecological mining development” and including some environmental protections; however, critics argue these safeguards are too weak to address the entrenched realities of illegal mining in the Amazon, where armed groups and criminal networks drive deforestation and human rights abuses, making the law appear more like greenwashing that could legitimize and expand existing harm rather than resolve it.

April 9, 2026 | Miami Herald
U.S. companies considering Venezuela’s mining sector face high risks due to a largely informal and opaque gold economy controlled by armed groups, criminal networks, and military-linked actors. Despite new U.S. policies opening the door to investment after political shifts in Caracas, weak oversight and fragmented supply chains make it difficult to avoid links to money laundering, human-rights abuses, and environmental damage. Experts warn that foreign involvement could unintentionally finance violence, legitimize illicit gold, and deepen ecological and social harm, especially in Indigenous territories, where governance is often dominated by non-state actors rather than the rule of law.

The undersigned Venezuelan and international civil society organizations, led by SOSOrinoco, take note of the decision by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to issue General Licenses 51A, 54, and 55, authorizing expanded activities involving Venezuelan-origin minerals, including gold, as well as services and prospective investments in Venezuela’s mining sector.

March 24, 2026 | MiamiHerald
A proposed mining law in Venezuela, emerging during a fragile political transition after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, is facing strong opposition from civil society groups. They warn it could “legalize ecocide” by formalizing destructive mining practices in regions like the Orinoco Mining Arc and the Guiana Shield.

The law is criticized for weakening environmental protections, enabling human rights abuses, including child labor and forced work, and allowing greater executive control with limited oversight. As mining expands, it threatens vast areas of rainforest, Indigenous communities, and public health, raising concerns that economic recovery is being prioritised over environmental and human well-being.

March 6, 2026 | The Conversation
Open pit gold mines have spread across large areas of the Orinoco Mining Belt in recent years.

February 4th 2025 | Wilson Center

This research seeks to unravel the current state of affairs regarding cyanidation processes in the state of Bolívar, with the objective of estimating its true scope within the framework of the Mining Arc policy and its real contribution to the country’s current gold production. Cyanidation techniques are much more efficient, but require heavy industrial processes. […]

“planetGOLD works to make small-scale gold mining safer, cleaner, and more profitable. Our vision is a clean global supply of gold from small-scale miners.”

Report by Lisa Viscidi & Sarah Phillips, Interamerican Dialogue | May 2021

Article by Juan Gabaldón-Figueira, et al. The Lancet | May 2021

The 2016 Mining Arc decree marked a milestone in the mining history of Venezuela. This report shows the status of some important socio-environmental variables within the Mining Arc space, and analyzes their link with mining through a preliminary spatial analysis. In a “geographic information system” (GIS), we integrate documentary, statistical, cartographic, thematic data and satellite […]