LME copper hit a seven-month high of $6,235.50 per tonne Friday morning.

Endeavour on Thursday said it had insufficient time before the current "put up or shut up" deadline of Dec. 31 to study Centamin's assets.

The new venture will tap the resources of the Yunshan graphite mine in Heilongjiang's Luobei county.

New or expansion projects with a dam height of over 200 metres are prohibited, while tailings dams that have been in service for less than five years may not be expanded or rebuilt.

The initial capital expenditure for the Obuasi mine remains in the range of $495 million to $545 million.

The Kalgoorlie plant, which is expected to begin operations in early 2023, would create up to 500 jobs.

ANM said it had visited the dam, and noted only minor superficial irregularities.

The miner kicked off the environmental permitting process for its $1.7 billion Twin Metals copper, nickel and platinum mining project in the US.

However, everyone is still bullish on the long-term story.

The move comes as rising volumes and volatility in industrial metals have boosted revenues for investment banks after years of lacklustre market conditions.

BHP's previous commodities trading stretches back to when it merged with British peer Billiton in 2001.

IBM said its technology has proven to outperform lithium-ion batteries in cost, charging time, and energy efficiency.