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U.S. government lenders do not plan to approve $1.6 billion in financing for a tungsten-mining project in Kazakhstan that was once hailed as a key part of President Donald Trump's push to secure critical mineral supply chains, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Neither the U.S. Export-Import Bank nor the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation plans to fund the venture, which is linked to the president's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
The two agencies had issued letters of interest in the project with Cove Kaz Capital Group last year — up to $900 million from the Export-Import Bank and up to $700 million from the Development Finance Corporation — to develop the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten deposits, about 25 km apart. Cove Kaz holds a 70 percent stake in the venture, with Kazakhstan's state mining firm, JSC Tau-Ken Samruk, holding the rest. The project was announced by the Trump administration in November 2025, when Trump hosted Central Asian leaders in Washington.
A Development Finance Corporation official confirmed on Tuesday that the lending would not proceed, saying the letters of interest were non-binding and "should not be interpreted as a commitment by DFC to provide financing." The project "has not advanced beyond stage one of DFC's four-part review and Know Your Customer (KYC) screening, nor is DFC actively pursuing a transaction with them at this time." A source familiar with the matter confirmed that the Export-Import Bank also would not proceed with its plans to fund the project. Bloomberg first reported on Monday that the two agencies would not fund it.
The venture drew scrutiny in Washington because the president's sons hold an indirect stake of less than 1 percent in it. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned in July whether the White House was influencing decisions on federal support for the project, writing to the Commerce Secretary and the heads of the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation. Development Finance Corporation chief executive Ben Black said in a statement released by the State Department in February that the project reflected "one of DFC's core missions — mobilizing private capital to secure the supply chains that matter most to U.S. economic growth and security."
Cove Kaz's executive chairman, Pini Althaus, said the company had not received any formal indication of withdrawn support and did not plan to apply for loans until a feasibility study is completed next year. The company expects to complete the feasibility study for Northern Katpar by the end of 2027 and aims to build a refinery in Kazakhstan to produce ammonium paratungstate, a key intermediate tungsten product. Tungsten is used in computer chips, military equipment and missile components, and China dominates global supply — which is why the administration had presented the Kazakh deposits as a way to reduce American dependence on foreign minerals. Without the low-cost U.S. capital, the project faces a 42- to 48-month buildout and would not begin delivering tungsten concentrates to North America until 2031, according to filings cited in reports.