A company tied to Trump’s sons has now asked the Pentagon for $400 million more after already securing $1.6 billion in government backing

Cove Kaz Capital, a group linked to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is seeking an additional $400 million from the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), a branch of the Pentagon that funds supply chain technologies needed for national security. 

According to the Financial Times, this comes after the company already secured up to $1.6 billion in government support for its tungsten mine project in Kazakhstan. According to people familiar with the matter, the new funds would speed up the mine’s development.

Cove Kaz controls 70% of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten projects in central Kazakhstan. The US Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, two federally funded agencies, had already issued nonbinding letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion to support these projects. Now, the company’s pitch to the OSC is asking for $400 million more on top of that.

Cove Kaz’s ties to the Trump family and its reliance on government support raise serious questions about conflicts of interest

The Trump administration has been actively working to build new supply chains for critical minerals, including rare earths, in order to reduce America’s dependence on China. Tungsten is widely used in US industry, including in the defense, manufacturing, and energy sectors. Its price has surged to about $3,100 per metric tonne from around $350 per metric tonne since the start of last year, according to Fastmarkets data.

Cove Kaz and Kaz Resources, both portfolio companies of US mining investment group Cove Capital, agreed to merge with Nasdaq-listed construction group Skyline Builders last month. The Trump brothers invested in Skyline in August through a vehicle called American Ventures. In late September, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Donald Trump that he planned to award a major tungsten project to Cove Kaz.

While there is no suggestion that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump knew about the upcoming government-backed deal when they first invested, Cove Kaz’s CEO, Pini Althaus, previously told the Financial Times that the company had received “direct assistance” from President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to secure the mine in Kazakhstan. 

The Pentagon has been at the center of several high-profile controversies lately, including reports of quietly expanding military bases in Greenland that drew significant attention from analysts. Tungsten is used in drilling tools, armour-piercing bullets, and kinetic energy missiles. China tightened export restrictions on the metal in early 2025, further driving up its value.

In an April investor presentation, Cove Kaz’s Kazakhstan mine was described as “the largest tungsten project outside of China.” The company hopes to break ground in 2028 and begin mine commissioning the following year.

China currently controls roughly 80% of the global tungsten supply, making the mineral a key focus of US efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese exports. A spokesperson for Cove Kaz stated that the company “is assessing expedited ways to bring the mine and refinery into production due to exponential US demand and unprecedented shortfalls in tungsten supply.”

The company’s request for an additional $400 million from the Pentagon, on top of the $1.6 billion in government backing it has already secured, puts a spotlight on the level of federal support flowing toward a venture directly tied to members of the president’s family. 

The Pentagon has also recently been involved in a legal battle over censuring Senator Mark Kelly, adding to scrutiny over its recent decisions. The scale of government support for Cove Kaz, combined with the reported “direct assistance” from senior administration officials, makes this one of the more closely watched mining deals in recent memory.