Ever since the ouster of former El Presidente Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela, there has been a lot of talk about Venezuelan oil, some of it stored, some in tramp tankers trying to evade the United States Navy (and failing), and some still in the ground. That black gold may play a major role in the resuscitation of Venezuela, but at least one industry expert is pointing out that Venezuela may have significant deposits of other valuable mineral resources, including rare earth elements.
The deposition of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has sparked questions about the country’s future — and its vast natural resources. While many, including President Donald Trump, have focused on Venezuela’s oil as a potential benefit to the U.S., one expert says the country’s rare earth minerals may be getting overlooked.
There's just one problem: China already seems to have its foot in the door. That's not a big surprise, as Venezuela under Maduro was getting pretty cozy with Beijing.
"While everyone's talking about energy, which is very important, and everyone's talking about the human rights issue, regardless of what side you're on, there are some other major issues here, and rare earth are definitely one of them," Anthony Esposito, Founder and CEO of AscalonVI Capital, told FOX Business.
"If you look at the production, the mining production, 70% owned by China, reserves 50% within China, and 90% of the processing and refining is done by the Chinese. So, there's a massive bottleneck there for the rare earths," Esposito said. "The Chinese, along with the Iranians, but the Chinese in particular for the rare earths, have very successfully moved in to Venezuela and are starting to bottleneck the supply that's there."
If China is indeed already involved, they are doubtless stuck in as tight as a tick in a dog's ear, and it will be up to the new Venezuelan government to undo that; but the problem is, there isn't yet a really new Venezuelan government. The new "interim" president is a Maduro creature, his former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who hasn't been overly supportive of American involvement.
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It's also unclear precisely what the extent of Venezuelan deposits is, although they are apparently enough to have China interested.
Independent verification of Venezuela’s rare earth reserves remains limited. Rare Earth Exchanges, a media platform covering the rare earth and critical minerals sector, reported in December 2025 that Venezuela’s reserves do not rival those of China, Australia or the U.S. and instead consist of "reported occurrences associated with the Guayana Shield — monazite-bearing sands, carbonatitic and granitic indications, and thorium-associated minerals."
We might also point out that China, Australia and the U.S. are substantially larger than Venezuela.
This presents an interesting challenge for the Trump administration. Is it worthwhile to attempt to horn in on the Chinese exploitation of Venezuelan mineral resources? Our own domestic resources are considerable; we just need to go get them, here in Alaska and elsewhere. Any pressure on a new Venezuelan government to defenestrate Chinese mining operations would put a shaky new regime in a very uncomfortable spot.
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