In 2025, Latin America and the Caribbean mined roughly 40% of the world’s copper and around a quarter of its lithium. It refined 26% of that copper, 10% of its cobalt and 7% of its rare earths, and it had no graphite refining capacity at all. These figures, set out in the regional chapter of the International Energy Agency’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026, are the most precise public measurement to date of a structural feature the region’s governments have debated for

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