Fresh disclosures and corporate filings made public on June 28, 2026 are pulling back the curtain on a U.S.-backed push to tap one of the world’s biggest tungsten deposits in Kazakhstan. The project, rolled out with fanfare in Washington in November 2025, is now shown to have direct lines into the Trump White House and business circles tied to the Trump family. Reporting says former President Donald Trump joined key discussions by phone, and that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump later picked up stakes through investment vehicles that stand to benefit if the mine project moves forward. The new details are fueling questions about how access, public financing and private profit intersected with Washington’s industrial policy drive.
Deal details and U.S. backing
Under the structure that was announced, U.S. investor Cove Capital would hold a controlling interest in the tungsten venture, while Kazakhstan’s state mining company keeps a minority stake. Company materials put the projected development bill at about $1.1 billion. The U.S. Export-Import Bank signaled interest with a preliminary financing letter, and the administration pitched the effort as part of a broader campaign to shore up supplies of critical minerals for U.S. industry. Those terms were reported by Reuters after the November rollout.
Family stakes and filings
Documents obtained by reporters indicate that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump did not buy into the Kazakh project directly, but instead gained indirect exposure through investment vehicles tied to Dominari Holdings and American Ventures. The filings show their stakes in related firms were significant enough to be visible yet still shy of control. Records cited by The New York Times say the brothers together owned roughly 10 percent of Dominari’s shares and held Dominari stock valued at about $7 million, while entities linked to Dominari ended up with an economic interest in the Kazakhstan platform. According to those filings, this is the clearest public map so far of how the Trump family is connected to the venture.
How the investments were structured
Corporate notices and pitch materials outline a multi-step route into the mining play. First, there were relatively small, targeted investments into a U.S. construction-focused issuer called Skyline Builders. Skyline then bought into a minerals vehicle associated with Cove. In April 2026, the parties signed a transaction agreement to fold the U.S. shell and Cove Kaz into a new company that aims to list on Nasdaq. Company statements say the combined firm plans to trade under the ticker KAZR once shareholders sign off and regulators finish their review. Those deal milestones were summarized in a newsroom update from Dominari Securities and in related investor presentations.
Ethics and oversight
Ethics lawyers and lawmakers are zeroing in on the structure, arguing it raises classic appearance-of-conflict problems. The concern is that public backing and private fundraising appear to have overlapped in ways that benefited outfits linked to senior figures inside the Commerce Department. Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats have formally demanded records and explanations from the department, saying that the role of former Cantor Fitzgerald executives and associated placement work deserves a hard look. Those concerns are detailed in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, which also cites earlier coverage of Lutnick’s moves to shift Cantor Fitzgerald stakes to family members. The full argument is laid out in Senator Warren’s letter.
What’s next
The merger and financing package still have to clear several hurdles, including shareholder votes, an SEC registration process and other regulatory signoffs, before any new KAZR shares can start trading. Even if the paperwork goes smoothly, construction and initial production at the site would play out over years, not months. With the latest disclosures by The New York Times now on the table, lawmakers and investors are likely to scrutinize every step of how critical-minerals policy, federal credit support and private dealmaking came together in this case. Official filings and future reporting are expected to be the main breadcrumbs as that oversight fight unfolds.
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