A company backed by President Donald Trump‘s sons reportedly invested in a mining group that is developing a $1.6 billion tungsten project in Kazakhstan, awarded by the Trump administration.
According to a Financial Times report, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been using a shell company to buy stakes in U.S. 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.
The merged companies will create a new entity named Kaz Resources and list on Nasdaq under the ticker “KAZR” 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.
As per the FT report, which cites filings dated October 31, Skyline agreed to pay $20 million for a 20% stake in Kaz Resources, a subsidiary of Cove Capital, which also controls Cove Kaz.
There is no evidence that the Trump brothers were aware of Cove’s pending $1.6 billion U.S. government contract when they made their initial investment in Skyline, nor that they played any role in the contract’s award, according to the report.
The joint venture was first announced at the November C5+1 Leaders’ Summit in Washington, D.C., by Trump and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Since 2023, the Departments of Commerce and State have supported the company’s critical minerals operations in Kazakhstan through commercial diplomacy.
White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comments.
Trump Family Deals Draw Scrutiny
In November, Vulcan Elements, a startup backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s firm, 1789 Capital, was linked to a major rare earth push involving the Trump administration. In association with American Resources Corp.‘s (NASDAQ:AREC) ReElement Technologies, it announced a $1.4 billion plan to build a fully domestic magnet supply chain. This included a $620 million loan from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital.
However, these moves have drawn scrutiny. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized Eric Trump for securing another multimillion-dollar contract from the Trump administration. She questioned the Pentagon’s role in providing financial benefits to the Trump family, terming it “corruption in plain sight”.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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