Bauxite in Venezuela: Los Pijiguaos, Reserves and Output
All of Venezuela’s bauxite comes from one mine: Los Pijiguaos, in Cedeño municipality, Bolívar state, run by the state-owned company CVG Bauxilum. Bauxite is the ore that aluminum is made from. The mine can produce 6 million metric tons a year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), but it produces only a small fraction of that: the USGS estimates 250,000 tons a year in 2020-2022, against a record 5,927,839 tons in 2006, according to a study published in 2026 in the Venezuelan journal Geominas. In August and September 2026, armed groups in the area forced the mine to run at partial capacity.
What is bauxite used for?
Bauxite is refined into alumina, which is smelted into aluminum. In Venezuela, all three steps are run by companies of the state holding Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG):
- Mine: bauxite is dug at Los Pijiguaos and shipped down the Orinoco River by barge to Bauxilum’s dock at Matanzas, in Puerto Ordaz. The trip is 353 nautical miles, according to Últimas Noticias.
- Refinery: Bauxilum turns it into alumina (aluminum oxide) at its Puerto Ordaz plant, which can make 2 million tons a year, according to the USGS.
- Smelters: Venalum (440,000 tons a year of capacity) and Alcasa (170,000) turn alumina into aluminum, according to the USGS. Venalum is 80% owned by the CVG and 20% by a group of Japanese companies including Showa Denko, Kobe Steel, Sumitomo Chemical and Marubeni.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Los Pijiguaos ore is “nearly 100 percent gibbsite with minimal organic material,” which makes it well suited for refining into alumina.
How much bauxite does Venezuela produce?
| Year | Bauxite | Alumina | Primary aluminum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 5,927,839 t (record) | — | — |
| 2018 | 0 per USGS; 91,771 t per Geominas | 0 | 86,000 t |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 t (est.) |
| 2020 | 250,000 t (est.) | 110,000 t (est.) | 20,000 t (est.) |
| 2021 | 250,000 t (est.) | 80,000 t (est.) | 20,000 t (est.) |
| 2022 | 250,000 t (est.) | 80,000 t (est.) | 47,000 t (est.) |
| 2023 | about 390,000 t per Geominas | — | — |
Sources: USGS, 2022 Minerals Yearbook (table 1), except 2006, 2023 and the second 2018 figure, which come from Geominas. t = metric tons. “Est.” = USGS estimate. — = no figure in these sources.
The two sources disagree on 2018: the USGS lists zero bauxite that year and the next, while Geominas gives 91,771 tons, or 1.53% of capacity. Either way, the mine runs far below what it can do.
CSIS explains the collapse: in 2019 Bauxilum suspended bauxite mining and alumina production, citing chronic power outages, operational mismanagement and shortages of imported inputs. That April, the government announced a plan to produce 18,000 tons of alumina a month and restart the mine by the end of 2020; according to CSIS, those efforts were ultimately abandoned. Geominas blames the decline mainly on a lack of maintenance and investment.
Where is bauxite found in Venezuela?
All of it lies in the Guiana Shield, south of the Orinoco River. According to the Geominas study (2026), these are the known deposits:
| Deposit | Location | Estimated resources |
|---|---|---|
| Los Pijiguaos | Cedeño municipality, Bolívar | The only operating mine; in production since 1987 |
| La Cerbatana | 45 km east of Los Pijiguaos, 90 km south of Caicara del Orinoco | About 2.5 billion t over 3,900 km², averaging 50.64% alumina |
| Chivapure | South of Los Pijiguaos | About 3 billion t |
| Cataniapo | Northern Amazonas state | About 4 billion t |
| Paisapa (El Palmar) | Río Grande area, about 150 km northeast of Ciudad Guayana | About 350 million t |
For the whole country, Geominas puts resources at 15 to 20 billion tons. CSIS estimates up to 6 billion tons of probable resources around Los Pijiguaos alone. These are resources, not proven reserves: there is no recent public study showing how much of that bauxite can be mined at a profit.
Read the Geominas numbers with care: the same study gives Los Pijiguaos about 6 billion tons in one place and about 500 million in another.
The mine in 2026: armed groups and partial operations
- Since August: violence rose in southern Bolívar, with clashes between Colombia’s ELN guerrillas and FARC dissidents, and Bauxilum suspended night shifts and partly halted extraction because of harassment by armed groups, according to the Venezuelan outlet Confirmado, citing journalist Fritz Sánchez.
- September 16: mine staff were evacuated as a precaution after fighter jets flew over the area, the same outlet reported. Confirmado added that authorities had issued no official account of the air operation or of the mine’s status.
- September: in Puerto Ordaz, Venalum shipped more than 15,000 tons of primary aluminum to the United States at 99.5% to 99.7% purity, according to Venezuela’s mining ministry. It was the first shipment to the U.S. since 2018, when 8,000 tons were sent. We covered it in Venalum resumes aluminum exports to the U.S..
The government has not published bauxite or alumina output for 2024, 2025 or 2026. The latest official report we found of a shipment from the mine dates to June 2024, when Bauxilum’s president, Ernesto Rivero, received the first barge train of Los Pijiguaos bauxite at Matanzas, according to Últimas Noticias.
What is still unknown
- How much bauxite and alumina was produced in 2024, 2025 and 2026. No official figures have been published; the latest is the Geominas estimate for 2023.
- Where Venalum’s alumina comes from for the aluminum it exports. The ministry does not say whether it is from Bauxilum, from stockpiles or imported.
- Whether the mine is back to normal after the September 16 evacuation. Neither the CVG nor the ministry has said.
- How much bauxite is actually minable. La Cerbatana, Chivapure and Cataniapo have no public feasibility studies.
- Whether private partners will come in. Venezuela’s April 2026 Organic Law of Mines allows mining concessions of up to 30 years, as we explain in Mining and Venezuela’s economy, but we found no announced deal for bauxite.