U.S. investors gain access to Kazakhstan's vast tungsten reserves

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump acquired stakes in Skyline Builders in 2026, after the company merged with Cove Kaz Capital Group, the unit tied to Kazakhstan’s tungsten project.

The tungsten venture was announced on November 6, 2025, during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to Washington, alongside a U.S.-Kazakhstan memorandum of understanding on critical minerals cooperation signed by Kazakhstan’s Industry and Construction Minister Yersain Nagaspayev and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Under the joint venture, Cove Capital holds 70 percent and Kazakhstan’s state mining firm JSC Tau-Ken Samruk holds 30 percent. The projects center on the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits in eastern Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region.

The development cost was $1.1 billion, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank issued a letter of interest to finance $900 million of the project. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation explored as much as $700 million in financing for the Severniy Katpar mine. Tungsten is used to harden steel, and the United States has not mined it since 2015, leaving China as the world’s largest producer.

Kazakhstan’s tungsten reserves are about 410,000 tons, and one of the projects holds more than 10 percent of global reserves. Mine construction was expected to begin within two years, with production starting about 3.5 years later. Refining was expected to take place inside Kazakhstan.

Cove Capital chief executive Pini Althaus called the arrangement a “generational win” for U.S. critical minerals policy and said the supply would prioritize U.S. government and American commercial needs. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the region had been under-explored from a U.S. point of view and that the agreement was designed in part to keep Chinese firms from developing the asset.