Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have quietly expanded the family’s business footprint into the high-stakes world of critical minerals. According to the Financial Times, the duo has acquired a position in a US-backed mining venture that recently secured major financial support from agencies under Trump’s administration.
Trump sons take stake in Kazakhstan mining project
The deal, according to FT, is linked to a tungsten mining project that has secured up to $1.6 billion in financial support from US agencies. This move comes at a time when the US government is trying to cut its dependence on China for critical minerals.
Tungsten is one of those key materials, known for being a very strong and heat-resistant metal used in armour-piercing bullets, missiles, drilling tools, and other defence equipment. Experts, according to FT, say it has become a top priority for the Pentagon as global tensions rise.
How the Trump sons entered the deal
The story begins with a construction company called Skyline Builders. According to FT, in August last year, the two Trump sons quietly invested in Skyline through a special investment vehicle connected to Dominari Securities. The exact size of their investment was not made public.
A few weeks later, on September 22, Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Donald Trump that a major tungsten mining project would likely go to a US-backed group called Cove Kaz Capital. This project had attracted competition from companies in China and Russia.
Investment grows as deal moves forward
Just days after those reports surfaced, on October 28, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump increased their stake in Skyline. They took part in a funding round that raised nearly $24 million. Then, on October 31, Skyline made another big move.
Company filings, reviewed by Financial Times, show it agreed to pay $20 million for a 20% stake in a business described as having “significant critical minerals assets in Asia.” That company was Kaz Resources, linked to Cove Capital, the same group behind the Kazakhstan mining project.
On November 6, Cove Capital and Kazakhstan’s National Mining Company announced plans to develop “the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the world.”
Later, Cove Kaz Capital and Kaz Resources officially merged with Skyline. The combined company now plans to list on the Nasdaq under the name Kaz Resources. Interestingly, the official announcement of the merger did not mention either Trump’s sons.
No evidence of inside knowledge, spokesperson says
According to the FT report, there is no indication that Donald Trump Jr. or Eric Trump knew about the upcoming government-backed deal when they first invested. There is also no suggestion that they played any role in securing the contract.
A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. said, “Don is a passive investor in American Ventures and has no operational involvement in the company.”
“He does not interface with the federal government on behalf of any company he invests in or advises,” the spokesperson added. Eric Trump did not respond to requests for comment. The White House has not issued any official comments yet.
US government support behind the project
According to FT, the mining project has strong backing from US government-linked agencies. The US Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation have committed up to $1.6 billion to support the development of two sites in central Kazakhstan. Cove Kaz now controls about 70% of these projects.
The Trump family has been expanding into industries that are getting strong support from the current administration. These include critical minerals, artificial intelligence, drones, and cryptocurrency.
Reports suggest the family made over $1 billion in pre-tax profits last year from crypto ventures alone. For example, the administration struck a $600 million deal with a rare earths company shortly after a Trump-linked investment firm backed it.
However, even though the deposits in Kazakhstan are considered valuable, experts say it won’t be easy to turn them into working mines.