Taxpayers Fund Kazakhstan Tungsten Mine Tied to Trump Sons

The United States has backed a deal to develop one of the world's largest untapped tungsten deposits in central Kazakhstan, a move meant to loosen China's grip on a metal that is vital to weapons and advanced electronics. The project has since become the focus of a widening conflict-of-interest controversy in Washington, drawing congressional scrutiny that could complicate one of the country's highest-profile critical minerals ventures.

The deposits sit in the Shet district of the Karaganda region, near the small village of Unrek, roughly 130 kilometers south of the city of Karaganda. Two neighboring sites, Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty, hold a JORC-compliant resource estimated at around 1.4 million tonnes of tungsten trioxide, described by the developer as the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource on the planet. Combined output is projected at about 12,000 tonnes of tungsten a year once both mines reach full capacity, a volume close to current US import needs.

Tungsten is prized for its extreme hardness and very high melting point, which make it hard to replace in ammunition, missile warheads, fighter jet components, hypersonic weapons and semiconductors. China accounts for more than 80 percent of global tungsten production and processing. After Beijing tightened export controls on tungsten and other critical minerals in early 2025, benchmark prices outside China climbed roughly sixfold over the following year. The United States has no active commercial tungsten mine, having lost its last operating site in Utah about a decade ago, which left Washington searching for alternative supply.

The venture is structured as a joint venture in which the US-backed company Cove Kaz Capital holds a 70 percent stake and Kazakhstan's state miner Tau-Ken Samruk keeps 30 percent. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick negotiated the framework with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at a New York hotel in September 2025, with President Donald Trump joining by phone. The agreement was formally signed on November 6, 2025, alongside a broader US-Kazakhstan memorandum on critical minerals cooperation. Ahead of the signing, the Export-Import Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation issued letters of interest signaling up to 1.6 billion dollars in combined federal financing.

The scrutiny centers on the timing of private investments made as the deal advanced. According to reporting published on June 28, 2026, investors tied to Dominari Securities, a firm housed in Trump Tower and partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, joined partners to take a 20 percent stake in an entity linked to the project. That investment reportedly closed on October 31, 2025, six days before the deal was announced. Around the same period, Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm overseen by Commerce Secretary Lutnick's sons Brandon and Kyle, helped a lead investor raise 210 million dollars in fresh capital.

The Kazakhstan mine fits a broader pattern that critics describe as a defining trait of the second Trump administration. As Washington uses federal financing, tariffs and diplomatic leverage to pull critical mineral supply chains away from China, the same deals have repeatedly opened doors for firms tied to the president's family and his senior officials. Reporting found that businesses linked to the Trump and Lutnick families hold interests in at least 14 companies chasing government-backed mineral projects, connected to close to 9 billion dollars in public funding. Observers, including presidential historians, argue that this marks a phase in which American power abroad and private enrichment at home have become hard to separate, with the machinery of the state helping to steer profits toward the very people who direct it. Supporters counter that the president's sons are private citizens and that the minerals push serves real national security aims, yet the overlap between imperial reach and personal gain is obvious.

The corporate structure of Cove Kaz Capital has kept evolving. Cove Kaz Capital agreed to merge with Skyline Builders Group, a Nasdaq-listed shell, to form Kaz Resources, which plans to trade under the ticker KAZR. Securities filings showed Skyline had paid 20 million dollars for a 20 percent interest in the underlying minerals company before the combination.

Kaz Resources executive chairman Pini Althaus has rejected any suggestion of political favors, saying talks began under the previous administration and that he was unaware of the Trump family's involvement when new investors approached him. He acknowledged that the optics could trouble some observers. The White House and the Commerce Department have defended the project as a national security priority rather than a vehicle for personal gain, and both Trump sons have described themselves as passive investors with no operational role.

Lawmakers have pressed for answers. Members of House and Senate committees sent letters earlier in 2026 demanding details on how taxpayer funds are being safeguarded, and Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked several agency heads to respond to conflict-of-interest questions by July 21, 2026. Critics warn that the administration has relaxed some requirements, including feasibility studies, for projects receiving public support, which could leave taxpayers exposed if tungsten prices fall or the mine stalls.

For now the deposits remain years away from full production, and the deal stays active amid mounting political and legal pressure. Kazakhstan has meanwhile started to emerge as a notable tungsten producer, shipping its first concentrate exports in 2025, and its role in global supply chains is set to grow. Whether the Unrek project delivers on schedule may depend as much on the outcome of the Washington oversight fight as on the geology beneath the steppe.