US Home Secretary Doug Burgum arrived in Venezuela in early March with leaders of the oil and gas and mining industries to meet with interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
There has been no transportation of precious metals between Venezuela and the US in more than 20 years" - Mr. Burgum told energy industry directors at the CERAWeek conference of S&P Global in Houston on March 25.
After 2 working days, we have been able to bring back 100 million USD of gold - material gold" - he added.
According to him, the gold brought from Venezuela to the US will be used by refineries in the US for commercial and consumer purposes.
The US Secretary of the Interior revealed that he had a 10-hour working session with the interim President of Venezuela during this trip.
In addition to oil, the US also sees great opportunities in exploiting Venezuela's mineral resources and precious metals, according to Mr. Burgum.
Venezuela is considered to have the largest crude oil reserves in the world as well as large coal reserves containing important minerals.
Mr. Burgum said that Venezuelan officials are now well aware of the state of the mining industry in this country. Therefore, the government of interim President Rodriguez is hoping for a cleaner environment, attracting modern investment and promoting economic growth.
