Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, through a shell company, invested in the American construction group Skyline Builders, which is creating a joint venture to development project tungsten deposit in Kazakhstan worth $1.1 billion.
Nasdaq-listed Skyline Builders last week merged with Cove Kaz Capital Group, a division of New York investment group Cove Capital, which last year received rights to develop two fields in the Karaganda region (North Katpar and Upper Kairakty). As a result of the merger, a new company, Kaz Resources, was created, which will become the operator of the project.
According to the documents, Skyline paid $20 million for a 20% stake in a venture with “significant critical minerals assets in Asia”—specifically, Kaz Resources. After completion of the transaction, Kaz Resources plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker KAZR.
President Trump’s eldest son said that he has nothing to do with any investment projects. Eric Trump declined to comment.
The deal is part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy to boost production of critical minerals around the world to reduce dependence on supplies from China. Last November, the United States and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding in this area, which strengthened the economic partnership.
Cove Capital estimates that the Kazakhstan project represents the world’s largest undeveloped tungsten deposit. According to the JORC standard (2023), the resource is estimated at 1.4 million tons of tungsten trioxide. By comparison, China’s total reserves, according to the US Geological Survey, are 2.4 million tons. The production capacity of the two fields after reaching full capacity will be about 12 thousand tons per year – approximately 15% of the world’s volume.
Cove Capital CEO Pini Althaus told Reuters last year that first production was expected within three years. “This is a win for the United States and its critical mineral needs for a generation to come,” he said.
To finance the development (estimated cost: $1.1 billion), the US Export-Import Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation have expressed interest in providing up to $900 million and $700 million, respectively.
Under the November agreement, Cove (now Kaz Resources) will control 70% of the project and metal sales, and Kazakh state-owned mining company Tau-Ken Samruk — 30%.
The tungsten project in the Karaganda region is becoming not only a major industrial undertaking, but also part of a global geopolitical game for control of supply chains of strategic metals.
Source: Financial Times
