U.S. company acquires Teghut mine

PanARMENIAN.Net - An American company has become the new owner of Armenia's Teghut copper-molybdenum mine. Its head, financier Konstantin Sokolov, was recently appointed by the U.S. State Department to lead the TRIPP+ investment fund associated with the "Trump Route" trade corridor through Armenia.

Interest in acquiring the mine had become public several months ago after reports that Sokolov was considering purchasing the asset, which had come under the ownership of Russia's VTB Bank through debt recovery. According to RFE/RL, following the Amulsar gold project, the deal represents the second major Western investment in Armenia's mining sector.

Documents from Armenia's electronic registry of legal entities show that Dynamic Frontier Holdings has become the new shareholder of Cuprum RA, the company operating the Teghut mine. The company is not registered in Armenia and, according to publicly available records, was incorporated in Texas in August 2025.

Records obtained by Azatutyun from the Texas tax registry indicate that the company is headed by Florida-based businessman Konstantin Sokolov.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the U.S. State Department had appointed the 52-year-old financier and investor to head the TRIPP+ fund, which is tasked with supporting development of the strategic transport corridor planned through Armenia's Syunik Province.

The Guardian previously reported that Sokolov, who was born in Russia and built his investment career in Chicago, will co-chair the State Department's new entrepreneurial investment fund overseeing more than $200 million earmarked for the Central Asia trade corridor, including investments in transport, energy infrastructure and critical minerals. The newspaper also noted that he has never held a government position.

Before becoming involved with TRIPP+, Sokolov was already known in Armenia as a co-owner of telecommunications operator Viva Armenia. In 2024, he acquired a 20% stake in the company.

In April, VTB chief executive Andrey Kostin announced that the Russian bank was in the final stage of selling its Armenian copper production asset.

Teghut is Armenia's second-largest copper and molybdenum deposit, with estimated reserves of about 450 million tonnes of ore. The site also includes a mining and processing plant that began operations more than a decade ago.

The mine had previously been operated by Vallex Group, owned by businessman Valery Mejlumyan. In 2018, the company was unable to meet its loan obligations to VTB, and ownership of the asset passed to the Russian state-backed bank in exchange for debts amounting to $380 million.

According to VTB's 2024 financial report, the outstanding debt related to the project exceeded 162 billion drams, or roughly $440 million.

Only days ago, Armenia's Competition Protection Commission authorized Cuprum RA to acquire the Teghut shares.

According to the report, the transaction was structured through an intermediary. Former banking executive Sergey Virabyan effectively assumed the Teghut debt from VTB, later confirming that he had become the owner of Cuprum RA, taken over its liabilities and subsequently sold the company.

As a result, the debt was first transferred from the sanctioned Russian bank to another company, which settled the obligations and then sold the mining asset, reportedly at a higher price, to Texas-registered Dynamic Frontier Holdings.

According to this account, the structure allowed Sokolov to avoid conducting a direct transaction with VTB, which is subject to Western sanctions.

Information published on Sokolov's personal website states that he moved from Russia to the United States at the age of 21 and has invested in telecommunications, energy and financial infrastructure projects. He owns Chicago-based IJS Investments and Zurich-based Gotthard Investment AG, which focuses on financial services, energy and real estate. He also serves in the Northern Pillar Energy consortium, which develops clean-energy and fiber-optic infrastructure linking Africa and Europe.

Sokolov is also known for his philanthropic activities. Last year he donated $100 million to the University of Chicago in support of the Booth School of Business MBA program and contributed to the Munich Security Conference Foundation, where he serves as a trustee.

He was also among 37 American companies and business leaders that, together with Meta, Google and Apple, financed the renovation of the White House ballroom initiated by President Donald Trump. The project has been valued at around $300 million.

According to the Associated Press, Sokolov has also made regular political donations to Trump's campaign. Over a one-year period alone, he reportedly contributed about $11 million to the pro-Trump MAGA movement.

The Guardian reported last December that Donald Trump Jr. visited an artificial intelligence data center under construction in Gibraltar that is owned by Konstantin Sokolov.