One of the issues with colonizing Venus is the harsh conditions at the surface. People have proposed using floating habitats in the upper atmosphere, where conditions are milder, and gathering resources from the atmosphere itself (and there's a question about that on this site). Some have also proposed using machines to gather resources from the surface, like in one of the answers to that question.
However, it might be possible to mine from Venus' surface without getting anywhere near it. There are "infrared windows" in the atmosphere of Venus: bands in the near-infrared region of the EM spectrum where light can pass through. These bands were used by the Venus Express probe to study the lower atmosphere and surface of Venus. Would it be feasible to use a powerful laser, tuned to the wavelength of one of these windows, to blast the surface of Venus and send dust into the air? The dust could then be harvested by habitats floating in the upper atmosphere, giving them access to heavy elements.