Trump donor plans to redirect Armenian copper from China to the US
US investor Konstantin Sokolov, who heads the TRIPP-linked Tripp+ fund, plans to expand his investments in Armenia’s copper industry. From next year, he intends to ship output from the Teghut mine to the United States instead of China.
Sokolov said this in an interview with Bloomberg, as reported by RBC.
According to Sokolov, most of Teghut’s output has so far gone to China. Once the current contract expires in December, he plans to redirect supplies to the United States under new trade arrangements. The investor named the integration of Armenia’s critical mineral resources into US supply chains as one of the main goals of the deal.
Sokolov aims to raise annual production to 120–130 thousand tonnes of copper concentrate, equivalent to about 26–28 thousand tonnes of copper. The new capacity is due to come on stream in 2030 and reach full output in 2031. He described the peace agreement initialled by Armenia and Azerbaijan as “a transformative event for the region” and added that he wants to develop business across the region because he believes in its potential.
How Teghut passed to a US company
RBC, citing Bloomberg, writes that Sokolov acquired Teghut, Armenia’s second-largest copper producer, in September. The change of ownership, however, became known in July. As reported by the ARKA news agency, citing Azatutyun, the US company Dynamic Frontier Holdings became a new participant in Kuprar, the company that operates the mine. Dynamic Frontier Holdings is registered in Texas, was founded in August 2025 and is headed by Sokolov.
Before the sale, Teghut’s main shareholder and creditor was Russia’s VTB Bank, which is under US sanctions. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), on June 1 the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Dynamic Frontier Holdings a licence to buy the mine’s shares and debt.
Industrial mining at Teghut began in December 2014. The mine’s design capacity is up to 50 thousand tonnes of copper concentrate a year. In February 2018, operations were suspended, leaving more than a thousand people out of work. Sokolov’s stated plans are therefore more than double the mine’s design capacity.
Who is Konstantin Sokolov
Sokolov was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in 1975 and moved to the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He founded the investment companies IJS Investments and Gotthard Investment AG and is a major shareholder in the telecom operator Viva Armenia.
In July, the US State Department appointed him chairman of a new enterprise fund linked to Tripp+. The fund exceeds $200 million and invests in transport, energy and critical minerals in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Tripp+ is named after TRIPP, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity project.
As The Guardian wrote, during Trump’s second presidential term Sokolov has donated more than $12 million to Republicans. Of this, $11 million went to the MAGA Inc. super PAC and $443 thousand to the Republican National Committee. He was also among the 36 donors to the construction of the White House ballroom.
