Billionaire John Paulson Sees $70M Windfall from U.S. Investment in Trilogy Metals
A quiet investment deal between the U.S. government and a small Canadian mining company has turned into a multimillion-dollar windfall for John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime ally of former President Donald Trump.
The federal government’s $35.6 million stake in Vancouver-based Trilogy Metals, disclosed this week, triggered a buying frenzy in the stock market. Trilogy’s shares tripled in after-hours trading Monday night, then opened 245% higher on Tuesday, catapulting its market cap past $1.1 billion.
Few gained more than Paulson. As of June 30, he held an 8.7% stake in Trilogy, worth around $30 million. After Tuesday’s explosive move, the value of his shares soared past $100 million, delivering a $70 million one-day gain on paper.
A Government Deal with Market Impact
The U.S. government announced it would invest $35.6 million in Trilogy Metals in exchange for a 10% equity stake, part of a broader strategic push to secure domestic supplies of copper, cobalt, and other critical minerals.
The investment coincided with the Bureau of Land Management granting federal approval for the long-delayed Ambler Road, a proposed 211-mile route into Alaska’s remote Ambler mining district.
Trilogy and Australian firm South32 jointly operate Ambler Metals LLC, which oversees the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects—a 472,000-acre region in northwestern Alaska believed to hold major deposits of copper and other key metals. Though still in the exploration and development phase, the project is viewed as geopolitically significant amid growing competition over resource security.
The Biden administration had previously blocked the road project in 2023, citing environmental and Indigenous concerns. The sudden policy reversal—and the investment itself—raises eyebrows, particularly with respect to its beneficiaries.
Paulson’s Long Game Pays Off
Paulson, who made his name shorting the housing market during the 2008 financial crisis, has been a major shareholder in Trilogy Metals since its IPO in 2012, when it launched as NovaCopper after spinning off from NovaGold Resources.
Over the years, Paulson steadily increased his position, acquiring millions of shares when the stock fell to lows of just 16 cents in 2016. By June 2019, his stake had reached 14.3 million shares, where it has remained relatively stable, per SEC filings.
The timing of the federal investment couldn’t have been more favorable. Trilogy’s stock closed at just $0.37 in April 2024, but by Tuesday morning, it peaked at $7.25, before settling around $6.57—a more than 1,000% gain since Election Day 2024.
Not bad for a company with five full-time employees, zero revenue, and a net loss of $9.2 million in the past 12 months.
Trump Connection Draws Scrutiny
Though the White House framed the deal as a strategic resource initiative, critics note the personal windfall for Trump’s allies—particularly Paulson.
The billionaire financier has long been close to Trump. In 2016, he served on Trump’s economic advisory team during his first presidential campaign. More recently, in April 2024, Paulson hosted a $50.5 million fundraiser for Trump at his Palm Beach estate—one of the highest-grossing political fundraisers in U.S. history.
He was even rumored as a potential Treasury Secretary pick during the 2024 transition before Trump ultimately chose investor Scott Bessent for the role.
Had Paulson been appointed, he would have been required to divest from his Trilogy holdings due to federal ethics laws. That never happened, and on Tuesday, it paid off handsomely.
Paulson declined to comment on the windfall or the federal investment.
A Broader Pattern of Market Influence?
The Trilogy deal is part of a wider pattern: the U.S. government has increasingly taken direct equity stakes in resource companies.
So far this year, the government has also invested in:
- Intel (semiconductors)
- MP Materials (rare earths)
- Lithium Americas (battery metals)
All saw share prices spike following the announcements, but none more dramatically than Trilogy, the smallest and least developed of the group.
Paulson’s Golden Year
The Trilogy windfall caps a banner year for Paulson’s portfolio. A vocal advocate for gold investments, Paulson also holds major positions in:
- Perpetua Resources
- Agnico Eagle Mines
- NovaGold Resources
Together, those gold mining stakes were worth over $600 million in his second-quarter filings and are likely worth over $1 billion today, amid a global rally in gold prices.
Each stock has more than doubled over the past year, though their gains still pale in comparison to Trilogy’s sudden explosion.
Final Word
Trilogy’s massive jump has raised questions about politics, policy, and profit—and how intertwined they can become. While the investment may serve strategic national interests, it also delivered a nine-figure return to one of the most politically connected investors in America.
For John Paulson, who avoided a government role that would have required divestment, the market just sent its own reward.
