In a port near New Orleans, on Monday the 5th, United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum received the first shipment of Venezuelan aluminum to the country in nearly a decade.
The load, of about 15,000 tons, coming from Venezuela’s largest aluminum smelter, marked one of the first milestones of the Trump administration’s initiative to guarantee American supply chains access to the country’s vast mineral resources.
Alongside Burgum were the founders of Heeney Capital, a investment firm that partnered with Swiss commodities giant Mercuria Energy Group to transport aluminum from the Venezuelan state-owned Venalum and sell it to manufacturers in the United States.
Even in the relatively small universe of mining and the metals industry, few have heard of Heeney Capital, based in New York. The private equity firm, whose website is accessible only to registered investors, describes itself as an investor in early-stage mining projects. Within months, its co-founders, Henry Heeney, 38, and Sean Pi, 36, progressed from introductions to members of the Trump administration to protagonists in Washington’s efforts to revive American mining investments in Venezuela.
“They are a very small and relatively unknown company,” said Alexis Harmon, Associate Director of the Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council. “But the portfolio they’re talking about is enormous.”
The rapid rise of Heeney reflects a feature of Washington’s strategy to reopen Venezuela’s commodity sectors to American investment. Since the Trump administration captured former President Nicolás Maduro, smaller and independent companies, such as Pacific Coast Energy, Augusta Capital and Gold Reserve Ltd., have rushed to seize opportunities that many large companies still avoid due to economic and political risks.
Heeney and Pi met while working as analysts in New York at Evercore. After leaving the investment bank, they became partners and built a portfolio of early-stage mineral deposits through acquisitions, as well as founding companies such as Mayfair Gold, which has an asset in Canada, and Siguiri Gold in Guinea.
Pi and Heeney did not respond to requests for comment.
Pi was added at the last minute to a U.S. delegation that visited Caracas in March aimed at boosting business in the metals sector in Venezuela, but struggled to attract major U.S. mining companies. Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the country, declined an invitation to participate in the trip, according to people familiar with the matter. A company spokesman declined to comment.
During the visit, Pi met with American officials, including Jarrod Agen, head of the White House’s National Council for Energy Dominance, and David Copley, former executive of Newmont who became one of the government’s leading authorities on mining investments.
Besides the transport deals, Heeney seeks to gain operational control of Venalum, the country’s largest smelter. The founders also announced in September an agreement to invest up to US$1 billion in the development and operation of the Choco gold mine over the next 30 years. According to the company, the mine could produce up to 200,000 ounces of gold per year, worth about US$820 million at current prices.
Venalum and the Venezuelan Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Heeney is also evaluating opportunities in other minerals, such as coal, and intends to use its deals in Venezuela to build a metals trading company based in the United States, according to people familiar with the matter.
If it gains access to Venalum, the company would need to invest about US$500 million to restore the plant’s full capacity, 430,000 tonnes of aluminum per year. The process could take five to seven years. Currently, the smelter operates at only a small fraction of that capacity.
Little is publicly known about Heeney’s finances or its fundraising capacity. According to a document filed in March, the firm runs at least one private fund with gross assets of US$20 million. In testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives in February, Sean Pi stated that the company backs a portfolio of about US$1.2 billion in assets, spread across nine mining projects in six countries outside the United States. Among them are steel and vanadium projects in Trinidad and Tobago and an iron ore venture in the Republic of the Congo.
Unlike the oil and gas sector, which has seen a wave of deals lately, Venezuelan mining remains largely underdeveloped. The country holds large reserves of gold, bauxite, iron ore and coal, but years of economic crisis and isolation have significantly reduced formal activity in the sector. There is also little independent information about the real size of these reserves, making investments riskier.
Private companies like Heeney have more freedom to take risks in Venezuela without facing pressure from large institutional shareholders or the stringent due diligence processes adopted by the mining giants. Still, they must contend with the country’s persistent political uncertainty.
The Choco gold mine is considered particularly delicate. The gold mining areas around El Callao, where the project is located, have for years been dominated by criminal organizations that control mines and impose their rules through violence. The Venezuelan government, led by interim president Delcy Rodríguez, tried to retake control of these regions by deploying troops and armed helicopters to the area in June. Analysts, however, say the state has yet to establish lasting control over the territory.
“The big veterans of mining, such as Newmont, Barrick Mining or BHP, won’t enter the smoking ruins of Venezuela to take on third-party assets,” said Christopher Ecclestone, strategist at mining-focused consultancy Hallgarten & Company. “They know there are problems ahead.”
Newmont and Barrick declined to comment. BHP did not respond to comment requests.
A White House spokesperson said that American investments will help stabilize Venezuela’s mining industry.
“For years, Venezuela’s mining has been looted from the Venezuelan people and used to sustain dangerous criminal groups and support harmful actors around the world,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers. “The United States is helping to solve this historic problem. We are cleaning up Venezuela’s mining industry. Western companies are improving and legitimizing the sector.”
Companies now looking to enter Venezuela are initially focused on the so-called brownfield assets, currently operated by Venezuelan state-owned companies. The already existing infrastructure allows accelerating production and reducing investment risks.
Pi summarized Heeney’s strategy to operate in high-risk jurisdictions like Venezuela during a sector panel in June.
“The challenge for our industry is that we need to go where the rocks are. We can’t be too selective,” he said. “That means operating in jurisdictions that many Western investors look at and say, ‘that is outside our mandate.’”
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
