Trump sons invested in US group developing $1.1B tungsten project in Kazakhstan: FT

A company backed by two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s children is said to have invested in a mining group that is developing a $1.1-billion tungsten project in Kazakhstan, the Financial Times has found.

According to the FT, both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been using a shell company to buy stakes in U.S. construction group Skyline Builders (Nasdaq: SKBL), which on Thursday merged with Cove Kaz Capital Group, the unit of New York-based mining investment group Cove Capital that was awarded the tungsten project last year.

As part of the merger, the companies will create a new entity named Kaz Resources to operate the project, which comprises two deposits (Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty) located less than 32 km apart in the Karaganda mining district of Central Kazakhstan.

The FT report, citing securities filings, detailed that Skyline had paid $20 million for a 20% stake in a company with “significant critical minerals assets in Asia”, which it revealed to be Kaz Resources. Following the Skyline-Cove merger, Kaz Resources is expected to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “KAZR”.

Responding to FT requests, a Trump Jr. spokesperson said he “does not interface with the federal government on behalf of any company he invests in or advises,” while Eric did not comment.

The deal follows a November announcement disclosing Cove Capital’s involvement in the project as part of the Trump administration’s push to develop critical minerals assets globally to reduce its reliance on Chinese supply. The deal also underpinned a strengthened economic partnership between the U.S. and Kazakhstan, which signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals that month.

‘Largest undeveloped’ tungsten resource

According to Cove Capital, the project in Kazakhstan is the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource globally. A JORC-compliant mineral resource from 2023 estimated 1.4 million tonnes of tungsten trioxide (WO3), representing over half of China’s 2.4-million-tonne reserve as calculated by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The current feasibility studies outlined a production capacity of approximately 12,000 tonnes per annum from the two deposits, representing approximately 15% of global production, it said.

Cove Capital’s CEO Pini Althaus told Reuters last year that the company anticipates first production in about three years. 

To fund its projected $1.1-billion development cost, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and U.S. International Development Finance Corp. have each expressed interest in funding up to $900 million and $700 million, respectively.

As disclosed in the November announcement, Cove (now Kaz Resources) will control 70% of the project venture and sales of the metal, with Kazakh state miner Tau-Ken Samruk controlling the remaining 30%.