Trump’s Venezuela gold push hits refiner snag: NYT
Some gold entering the supply chain was tied to miners paying protection money to gangs around Venezuela’s southern goldfields.
A $100 million shipment of Venezuelan gold brought to the United States remains stalled in storage, according to a New York Times report. The gold was part of President Donald Trump's initiative to open the country's mineral sector to American businesses. Trafigura, a Singapore-based commodities trader, secured the rights to buy and export gold from Minerven, a Venezuelan state-owned gold miner, in March.
Despite the White House's claim that lifting the sanctions could help weaken criminal groups and reduce Venezuela's economic ties with U.S. adversaries, the shipments have not been resold six months after they began. Refiners are hesitant to process the gold because they cannot verify it is not funding criminal activities, corruption, or environmental destruction.
Some miners reported that they pay protection money to the Tren de Guayana gang, which has ties to the illegally mined gold that entered the refining channels in North America. The Northern Miner recently found that the Royal Canadian Mint is tightening its disclosure requirements for gold associated with such investigations.
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