Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is heading to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump on Friday as the administration lifts restrictions on Venezuela’s gold sector and further opens it up to global investment.
The Treasury Department on Friday moved to lift restrictions on the gold sector in the South American country, the most aggressive move the Trump administration has made so far to revive a sector plagued with violence and lack of infrastructure.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, an agency within the Treasury, on Friday issued a general license authorizing U.S. companies to purchase Venezuelan gold and conduct due diligence assessments, shipping and security service arrangements, and other aspects of the gold trade within Venezuela.
The license does not include the “mining, exploration, production, or refining” of gold, and disallows transactions with Chinese companies and Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Cuban or North Korean nationals.
