On September 2, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued General Licenses 51D, 54C, and 55A, which ease sanctions applied to the coal and minerals industry in Venezuela, including gold.

The licenses pave the way for “international commercial operations, service provision, and investments with state-owned companies such as Carbones del Zulia S.A. (Carbozulia) and CVG Compañía General de Minería de Venezuela C.A. (Minerven) with U.S. entities.”

Specifically, License 51D “authorizes the export, re-export, purchase, sale, transportation, and refining of Venezuelan coal and minerals and stipulates that all monetary payments to blocked individuals or state entities must be deposited in Foreign Government Deposit Funds, preventing the direct transfer of foreign currency without oversight,” and establishes the obligation that any litigation or arbitration be resolved in courts in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, or Singapore.

On the other hand, License 54C allows the provision of “goods, services, technology, software, and preventive maintenance or repair of equipment necessary for mineral exploration and processing in the country.” However, it stipulates that “companies providing these services must submit reports every 90 days to the Department of State and the Department of the Interior detailing the parties involved, volumes, amounts, and taxes paid.”

Finally, LG 55A allows the negotiation and signing of “letters of intent, memoranda of understanding, and bid offers for future investments or the creation of joint ventures,” with the essential condition that “the execution of any new project will depend on additional specific authorization or a license from OFAC.”

Among the applicable restrictions are prohibitions aimed at containing the influence of countries it considers non-aligned and untraceable payment schemes. The new licenses prohibit any transaction, joint venture, or refining involving individuals, companies, or governments from Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and China. It also restricts any payments in cryptocurrencies or Venezuelan government tokens (including the Petro), as well as debt swaps or in-kind payments.

M.Pino

Source: contrapunto

(Reference image source: Artyom Korshunov on Unsplash)

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