Trump sons invested in US group developing $1.1B tungsten project in Kazakhstan: FT
A company backed by two of US President Donald Trump’s sons reportedly invested in a mining group that is developing a $1.1 billion tungsten project in Kazakhstan, Financial Times has found.
According to FT, both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been using a shell company to buy stakes in US 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 20 miles 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 US 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 US Geological Survey.
The current feasibility studies outlined a production capacity of approximately 12,000 tonnes of WO3 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. “This is a generational win for the US and its critical minerals needs,” he also said.
To fund its projected $1.1 billion development cost, the US Export-Import Bank and US International Development Finance Corporation 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%.
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Dominic Heaton (third, right), CEO of Cove Kaz Capital, discusses a $1.1 billion tungsten mine deal with Yersayin Nagaspayev (third, left), Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Construction, and Nariman Absametov (second, right), Board Chairman of state-owned Tau-Ken Samruk, in March 2026. About a month later, Cove Kaz Capital and Tau-Ken Samruk inked the deal. (Photo: gov.kz)
May 4, 2026
Eurasianet
By Alexander Thompson
(Eurasianet) — A deal announced at the White House last year for an American company to mine tungsten in Kazakhstan is moving forward after the company closed the deal with the country’s state-owned mining company.
At almost the same time, Cove Kaz Capital, the American mining entity, and a shell company in which US President Donald Trump’s sons reportedly have a significant stake, announced an intention to merge, according to a report published by the Financial Times. The merged entity would seek to become a publicly traded company.
Cove Kaz Capital, a subsidiary of American mining company Cove Capital, indicated no major changes to the terms and scope of the $1.1 billion project that was first laid out last November at the C5+1 summit between Trump and the leaders of the five Central Asian states. The company confirmed that further exploration work will begin this summer.
“The financial closing of the share purchase agreement is a significant mile marker” for the project, Pini Althaus, the CEO of Cove Capital and executive chairman of the Kazakh operation, said in an April 29 statement.
Althaus thanked the Kazakh side for their “outstanding partnership” on regulatory approvals that will allow the company to start feasibility studies this summer, according to the statement. That process will take about 18 months to complete, the company said.
Cove Kaz Capital’s development of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits, estimated to hold 1.4 million tons of tungsten trioxide, represents a flagship initiative in the Trump administration’s efforts to widen US access to Central Asia’s abundance of critical minerals and rare earths. It is also one of the only significant American critical minerals mining projects in the region, other than an antimony mine in Tajikistan that has been operating for many years.
In the deal, Cove Kaz Capital purchased 70 percent of the project’s shares and Tau-Ken Samruk, the national mining company, received 30 percent. Cove Kaz Capital is leading the project’s development.
Just hours after the closing was announced, Cove Kaz Capital announced plans to merge with Skyline Builders Group Holding Ltd. The combined company intends to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange as Kaz Resources Inc., according to a joint statement issued by the two entities.
The Financial Times reported April 30 that Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, invested in Skyline Builders Group in August of last year and expanded their investment in October.
Althaus told the Financial Times he has not spoken with the Trump brothers. The pair’s initial investment in Skyline Builders Group came before Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev informed the White House in September that Kazakhstan was leaning towards awarding the tungsten development contract to Cove Kaz. The deal was publicly announced last November.
Democrats and former American ethics officials have raised concerns about the Trump family’s expanding investments in countries and sectors connected to the president’s foreign policy initiatives.Alexander Thompson is a journalist based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, reporting on current events across Central Asia. He previously worked for American newspapers, including the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier and The Boston Globe.
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Tungsten price breaks records as China export curbs, military demand boost investment
Tungsten prices have powered further into record-high territory, fuelled by China’s tightening export controls and surging military demand, with supplies stretched thin.
Tungsten is used in aerospace and defence equipment because its extreme heat resistance and hardness allow components to withstand intense temperatures, stress and wear
Prices of ammonium paratungstate (APT), an intermediate used to produce tungsten metal, were above $3,000 per metric ton in Rotterdam, up more than 200% since the start of the year.
China dominates the global tungsten market. It imposed new export restrictions on tungsten in 2025 and cut mining quotas for that year. In December 2025, China said only 15 firms would be allowed to export tungsten in 2026–2027.
In February, China prohibited exports of dual-use items to 20 Japanese entities that it said supply Japan’s military.
Almonty – a key tungsten producer beyond China – began mining at its South Korean mine in March, and a planned Phase 2 expansion is expected to come online in 2027.
The United States currently has no active commercial tungsten mines and while a few projects are under development to curb dependence on Chinese supply, there is no established timeline for production to resume.
Project Blue estimates the global tungsten market was about 129,000 metric tons in 2025. It added that defence demand, currently estimated at around 12% of the tungsten market, is expected to grow to roughly 15% between 2027 and 2028, as stockpile replenishment keeps demand elevated.
Argus said the automotive sector, consuming 25%-30% of tungsten, is currently the largest consumer, though rising EV adoption may curtail consumption.
Defence-sector demand is growing about 8% annually, and if trends hold, defence could overtake automotive as tungsten’s largest consumer by the mid-2030s, said Cristina Belda, senior analyst at Argus.
(By Ashitha Shivaprasad and Anmol Choubey)
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