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Trump Family-Linked Mining Venture Aims to Go Public in $2 Billion Deal
November 2, 2026
The firm that will become Kaz Resources has secured letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion in U.S. funding, drawing scrutiny from Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Eric Trump, left, and Donald Trump Jr. are passive investors, according to the mining executive behind the venture. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
A tungsten miner with ties to two of President Trump’s sons is preparing to go public, the latest twist for a business that has courted both government funding and Democrats’ scrutiny.
The company that will be known as Kaz Resources said it plans to sell shares to the public next year through a direct U.S. listing, giving Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump a stake in its project in Kazakhstan.
The proposed $2 billion deal would provide investors another way to back America’s race to secure materials critical for munitions, chips and more. Kaz Resources’ crown-jewel asset, a planned tungsten mine partially owned by Kazakhstan’s state-owned mining firm, is key to the Trump administration’s push to improve relations with a government long wedged between Chinese and Russian influence.
The company said the plan will supplant a pending merger orchestrated in part by the Trump brothers’ dealmakers that had drawn fire from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) over the first family’s alleged conflicts of interest. The president’s sons are still set to hold an ownership stake in Kaz Resources of below 1%, according to a person familiar with the matter—worth less than $20 million if the company reaches a $2 billion valuation.
The Trumps are passive investors and their role in the company is nonexistent, said Pini Althaus, the longtime mining executive behind the venture. A direct listing “is a cleaner, quicker way for us to become a publicly traded company.”
Workers at the Kaz Resources planned tungsten mine in Kazakhstan. Cove Kaz Capital Group
China dominates the market for tungsten, and tightened export controls in recent years have sent prices surging. The U.S. Defense Department has moved to wean itself off such shipments with a pending ban on Chinese tungsten, as well as a $450 million investment in a U.S. producer.
“I wouldn’t say it’s quite panic,” Althaus said. “But we’re getting there around long-term tungsten supply.”
The company that will become Kaz Resources, which estimates that its mine could produce 15% of global output, is already in talks to sell its metal to U.S. companies, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company is conducting a feasibility study on the site and hopes to start production in 2030.
A former U.S. diplomat said Washington’s push to boost Althaus’s efforts in Kazakhstan stretches back to the Biden era. The Trump administration in 2025 helped broker deals with the Kazakh government that included his firm’s ability to develop the site. The Export-Import Bank and International Development Finance Corp. have issued letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion in funding.
Separately, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. gained an indirect stake in the project through roundabout transactions.
Dominari Holdings, a Trump Tower-based financial firm partially owned by the sons, helped lead an investment last year into Hong Kong infrastructure company Skyline Builders. Skyline then agreed to merge with Althaus’s Kazakh assets to create Kaz Resources, which would have assumed Skyline’s Nasdaq listing.
The open pit mine location of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten deposits in Kazakhstan, collectively known as Severniy Katpar. Cove Kaz Capital Group/Business Wire/AP
A Trump Organization spokesperson has previously said that the sons’ stake in the tungsten project is indirect and that they had no input in deal talks. He added that the Kazakh government awarded the project before Althaus began discussing a merger with Skyline. Althaus said in an interview that he only learned of the Trumps’ exposure to his project after those talks began.
The merger will be scrapped as part of the new plan to take Kaz Resources public. But Skyline shareholders will still own more than a quarter of the company once it is listed, leaving investors including the Trumps with stakes.
Dominari has also agreed to inject $32 million of fresh funding into Kaz Resources through its American Ventures investment vehicle, with financing likely to involve strategic investors seeking tungsten supplies, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Althaus said he would welcome the opportunity to answer questions about his project and the Trumps’ stake if lawmakers request that he appear on Capitol Hill.
“I would be surprised if we weren’t,” Althaus said. “There’s no smoking gun here.”
