The Bolivar state is the key area for production of aluminum and steel.

To get a sense of scale, in Latin America in 2000, Venezuela was the second largest producer of primary aluminum and iron ore (after Brazil), the third largest producer of bauxite and alumina (after Jamaica and
Brazil). Likely, under the poor control of Chavez they have slipped just like oil. And bird watching tourism is a modest industry there.

The real key though is that those are mature industries that do not need a large number of workers. Newly constructed gold mines will require large numbers of lower wage manual labor workers -- something that Bolivar needs desperately.