Since the removal of former President Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela, discussions have intensified around the nation’s oil reserves. Some of this oil remains stored, while other portions are in tankers attempting, and failing, to dodge the United States Navy. Meanwhile, a significant amount of this “black gold” is still untapped, lying beneath the ground. This resource has the potential to play a crucial role in revitalizing Venezuela’s economy. However, an industry expert has highlighted that Venezuela might also possess substantial deposits of valuable minerals, including rare earth elements.

This revelation adds an intriguing layer to the conversation.

Yet, a significant challenge emerges: China appears to have already established a foothold in Venezuela’s mineral sector. This development isn’t entirely unexpected, given that Maduro’s regime had fostered close ties with Beijing.

If China is indeed deeply entrenched in Venezuela’s resource sector, it presents a formidable obstacle for the newly emerging Venezuelan leadership to address. Complicating matters is the fact that there isn’t a fully established new government in place. The current “interim” president, Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, has shown limited enthusiasm for American involvement in the country.

There’s just one problem: China already seems to have its foot in the door. That’s not a big surprise, as Venezuela under Maduro was getting pretty cozy with Beijing.

“While everyone’s talking about energy, which is very important, and everyone’s talking about the human rights issue, regardless of what side you’re on, there are some other major issues here, and rare earth are definitely one of them,” Anthony Esposito, Founder and CEO of AscalonVI Capital, told FOX Business.

“If you look at the production, the mining production, 70% owned by China, reserves 50% within China, and 90% of the processing and refining is done by the Chinese. So, there’s a massive bottleneck there for the rare earths,” Esposito said. “The Chinese, along with the Iranians, but the Chinese in particular for the rare earths, have very successfully moved in to Venezuela and are starting to bottleneck the supply that’s there.”

If China is indeed already involved, they are doubtless stuck in as tight as a tick in a dog’s ear, and it will be up to the new Venezuelan government to undo that; but the problem is, there isn’t yet a really new Venezuelan government. The new “interim” president is a Maduro creature, his former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who hasn’t been overly supportive of American involvement.