Billionaire Trump Donor Paulson Scores Windfall Thanks To Government’s Investment In Trilogy Metals

The federal government’s $35.6 million investment for a 10% stake in a small Vancouver-based mining business produced a windfall for its investors, one of whom Donald Trump is already very familiar with.

Billionaire John Paulson owned an 8.7% stake in Trilogy Metals as of the end of June. The stock tripled in after-hours trading Monday night after the deal was announced and opened 245% higher Tuesday, pushing the value of Paulson’s shares from $30 million to $100 million. Coinciding with the investment, the White House provided authorization for a 211-mile access road to Alaska’s remote Ambler mining district.

Trilogy and an Australian mining firm called South32 jointly own Ambler Metals LLC, which manages the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, a 472,000-acre expanse in northwestern Alaska home to a healthy supply of copper, cobalt and other metals. The project is still in the development and exploration stage, and Trilogy has yet to generate any revenue. Joe Biden’s administration had blocked construction of the proposed Ambler Road last year because of its impact on Native American communities in the area.

Trump’s White House statement crowed that the agreement will “prioritize economic growth and national security, delivering where Democrats have failed to harness America’s resources.” It didn’t mention the personal benefit for one of his most loyal allies. Paulson, who founded the hedge fund Paulson & Co. in 1994 and now runs it as a family office, was one of Trump’s earliest supporters on Wall Street, joining his economic policy team during his first presidential campaign in 2016. In April 2024, he hosted a fundraiser at his Palm Beach home for Trump that raised $50.5 million, and he was rumored to be under consideration to be the Treasury Secretary during last year’s transition before Trump ultimately picked Scott Bessent. Paulson did not reply to a request for comment about Monday’s deal.

Paulson has been a major shareholder in Trilogy since its IPO in May 2012, when it was called NovaCopper as a spinoff from NovaGold Resources. He initially owned 6 million shares, then gradually added to his position to amass 14.3 million shares by June 2019. His stake has remained constant since 2019, according to quarterly SEC filings.

Trilogy’s performance since it closed at $3.73 on its first day of trading in 2012 has been a roller coaster. It sank all the way to a low of 16 cents per share in January 2016—Paulson added to his stake at bargain prices in 2014 and 2015—rebounded to more than $3 in 2019, then retreated back to 37 cents in April 2024, as Biden created headaches for its hopes of getting its Alaska project up and running.

The day after the election last year, it leaped 79% in anticipation of a friendlier administration, and Tuesday, it surged 245% to open at an all-time high of $7.25. As of 10 a.m., shares had retreated to $6.57, still up 210% on the day, putting its market cap at $1.1 billion. It’s now up 1,000% since Election Day last year. Not bad for a tiny company with five full-time employees, zero revenue and a net loss of $9.2 million in the last 12 months, but with one coveted ally in the Oval Office.

It’s not the first time Trump’s government has moved the market by investing directly in stocks this year—it has taken stakes in Intel, MP Materials and Lithium Americas, and is rumored to be in discussions with other miners. All of their shares leaped higher on the news, but none as significantly as Trilogy, the smallest company of the group.

For Paulson, whose net worth is an estimated $4 billion, Tuesday’s stock move builds on a standout year for his portfolio. A longtime gold bull, he owns stakes in gold miners Perpetua Resources, Agnico Eagle Mines and Novagold Resources, which were worth a collective $600 million as of his second-quarter filing and would be worth upwards of $1 billion today if he hasn’t sold any during gold’s summer rally.

All three of those stocks have more than doubled in the last year, percentage gains that now pale in comparison to Trilogy’s. Paulson must be relieved he didn’t wind up with the Treasury Secretary job, which would have required him to divest from assets to comply with ethics laws.