REUTERS -- China's imports of copper fell 6.7 percent from month ago to 420,000 tonnes in August, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Copper imports to China, the world's leading copper and aluminium consumer, include anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products.
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The country exported 517,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in August, up from July's 510,000 tonnes.

REUTERS -- Chilean anti-trust regulator FNE said on Friday it had reached an agreement with Tianqi Lithium Corp 002466.SZ that would allow the Chinese miner to purchase a stake in top lithium producer SQM SQMa.SN, pending court approval.

The settlement stipulates that Tianqi can not name one of its executives or employees to SQM's board, and requires that the Chinese miner notify regulators of any future, lithium-related deal struck with either SQM or top-competitor Albemarle ALB.N.

"The measures agreed upon...are intended to limit Tianqi's access to commercially sensitive information held by SQM," the FNE said in a statement.

​Recent research suggests that there were five sources of cobalt common to traditional Chinese ceramics. Imported cobalt is distinguished by a high proportion of lead (the ratio of FE2O3 to CoO is between 2.21 and 3.02) and low manganese content (the ratio of MnO to CoO is 0.01 to 0.06) which yields a rich blue with obvious iron-rust spots.

Xiu Ban (oxide spots on surface) and Yun San (faint evasion) are observed features of the decoration which can help identify cobalt sources and to give support in dating. The cause for these effects are under debate.

For cobalt, there were several kinds and all carried different characteristic and reactions in the firing process. I do not think its possible to date a piece just by the "rust compositions" and "faint evasions", rather all things have to be considered. Short summary up to my present understanding (will be expanded).