Kaz Resources estimates its Kazakhstan tungsten mine could produce 15% of global tungsten output
Kaz Resources is preparing to sell shares through a direct U.S. listing next year in a proposed $2 billion deal centered on a planned tungsten mine in Kazakhstan. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump would hold an ownership stake of less than 1% in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter, worth less than $20 million if the business reaches a $2 billion valuation. Kaz Resources estimates that the mine could produce 15% of global tungsten output. The company is already in talks to sell its metal to U.S. companies, according to a person familiar with the matter, and is conducting a feasibility study at the site; it hopes to start production in 2030.
The proposed transaction would give investors another way to back the U.S. effort to secure materials critical for munitions, chips and more. Kaz Resources’ main asset is a planned tungsten mine in Kazakhstan, partially owned by the country’s state-owned mining firm. The Trump administration has sought closer ties with the Kazakh government and in 2025 helped broker deals that included Kaz Resources’ ability to develop the site, while Kaz Resources pursued federal financing and Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the pending merger over the first family’s alleged conflicts of interest.
Kaz Resources said the plan will supplant a pending merger orchestrated in part by the Trump brothers’ dealmakers. Pini Althaus, the longtime mining executive behind the venture, said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are passive investors and that their role in the company is “nonexistent.” Althaus said a direct listing “is a cleaner, quicker way for us to become a publicly traded company.”
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 pending merger will be scrapped as part of the direct-listing plan.
Skyline shareholders will still own more than a quarter of Kaz Resources once it is listed, leaving investors including the Trumps with stakes. Separately, Dominari has agreed to inject $32 million of fresh funding into Kaz Resources through its American Ventures investment vehicle. A person familiar with the matter said the financing is likely to involve strategic investors seeking tungsten supplies.
The Export-Import Bank and International Development Finance Corp. have issued letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion in funding for Kaz Resources. 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 Kaz Resources’ ability to develop the site.
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 reduce its reliance on Chinese shipments with a pending ban on Chinese tungsten and 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.”
Separately, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. gained an indirect stake in the project through roundabout transactions. A Trump Organization spokesperson previously said the sons’ stake in the tungsten project is indirect and that they had no input in deal talks. The spokesperson also said the Kazakh government awarded the project before Althaus began discussing a merger with Skyline. Althaus said in an interview that he learned of the Trumps’ exposure to his project only after those talks began.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, criticized the pending merger over the first family’s alleged conflicts of interest. The direct-listing plan does not end the Trump sons’ ownership interest in Kaz Resources. Althaus said he would welcome the opportunity to answer questions about the project and the Trump sons’ 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.”