Context On 6 March 2026, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General License No. 51 , "Authorizing Certain Activities Involving Venezuelan-Origin Gold," a measure that begins to reopen Venezuela's mining sector to regulated US commercial activity. The licence was signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 591. It is the first general licence under the Venezuela sanctions framew

Guns without foundations As European leaders commit to historic levels of defence spending, a structural problem is being systematically underweighted in public debate: the basic materials from which modern weapons are made are, to a remarkable degree, sourced from the very states that European rearmament is designed to deter or hedge against. The immediate catalyst for renewed focus is the conflict environment. Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has driven sustained demand for

When representatives of 54 countries gathered in Washington on 4 February 2026 for the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial, the scale of ambition was unmistakable. In the space of a single week, the Trump administration launched Project Vault, a public-private strategic minerals stockpile backed by approximately $12 billion in seed funding; unveiled the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) as successor to the Biden-era Minerals Security Partnership; and annou