According to Bloomberg, Venezuela is preparing its first aluminum shipment to the US in years, about 15,000 metric tons from state-owned Venalum, worth nearly $50 million and possibly leaving Friday, under a deal with Mercuria Energy Group and Heeney Capital.
Heeney, which cooperated with Mercuria, also plans to invest up to $1 billion over 30 years in Venezuela’s Choco gold mine and bring its output to the US. The deals signal a widening Western commercial opening into Venezuela’s mining and metals sector after years of isolation that had initially centered on oil.
Venalum, once Latin America’s largest aluminum smelter, now runs at a fraction of its 430,000-ton annual capacity, while the Choco complex includes the formerly private Choco 10 mine taken over by the government more than a decade ago.
Venezuela breaks years-long US aluminum freeze with first cargo
17 Sep 2026 16:28 reported by Yolanda Wang
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