KoBold Metals, a mining startup backed by billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is bullish on the discovery potential of some of the most sought-after energy transition metals.

It comes shortly after the Silicon Valley-based metals exploration company announced the rare discovery of a vast copper deposit in Zambia.

Josh Goldman, president of KoBold Metals, told CNBC that the firm’s investors were thrilled by the discovery, particularly at a time when the mining industry is struggling to keep pace with a metals-intensive energy transition.

“They are feeling delighted about this news because this is what we set out to do. The point of the company is to discover, find and develop mineral resources that we need for the energy transition,” Goldman said via videoconference.

“This is the first major win for the company, and it is among the most extraordinary ore bodies in the world,” he added.

KoBold Metals says it uses artificial intelligence to create a “treasure map” to help find new deposits of materials such as copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel. The company currently has more than 60 exploration-stage projects across several countries.

The startup’s investors include U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Norwegian energy giant Equinor, the world’s largest mining group BHP, and Breakthrough Energy, a climate and technology fund founded by Bill Gates in 2015.

Breakthrough Energy’s backers include Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio, Virgin Group’s Richard Branson, Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

KoBold Metals is now focusing on advancing its Mingomba project in Zambia, which it expects to start producing copper within 10 years, and discovering the next trove of critical minerals, according to Goldman.

“The Central African copper belt is the part of the world where you can find things of this extraordinary grade. And that’s why we are there. The geology is extraordinary,” he said.

“It is not just that there haven’t been deposits like this. It’s that there are more to be found. Here is Mingomba — and then where is the next Mingomba after this? This is the part of the world and style of deposit where we can find resources of this scale and quality, and Zambia provides an operating environment that is really extraordinary,” he added.

Copper is in high demand due to its use in renewable energy infrastructure, energy storage systems and electric vehicles. Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of the Congo.