Mining & Processing (maɪnɪŋ ænd prəʊsɛsɪŋ)

The early Dwarves knew how to make plate armor before they knew how to make pants. Usually the following materials are mined for the following purposes:

Stone - for construction
Copper - a cheap and sturdy material for trinkets (and alloys)
Iron - a sturdy material perfect for weapons and armor
Gold - for decoration and Danars
Silver - for decoration, and recently also its potency against monsters has been discovered
Clay - for bricks, construction, and recently it's slightly anti-magical properties have been discovered
Gems - for jewelry and decorations
Obsidian - an incredibly dense and resilient, but also really heavy material
Tin, Zinc, Carbon - for alloys

We also make the following alloys:

Brass - alloy of Copper and Zinc, used for yellow-ish armor
Bronze - alloy of Copper and Tin, for highly cost-effective weapons and armor
Electrum - alloy of Silver and Gold, sometimes used in jewelry and decoration
Steel - alloy of Iron and Carbon, a stronger form of Iron, usually used for armor and weapons

Then we have materials that are highly difficult to work with, but produce much better end products (you need to be a master Smith to work these):

Platinum - a quite stubborn and rare blue-ish ore. It produces weapons and armor stronger than Steel, and gives them a distinctive blue-ish color
Cold Iron - it's found in a pure state, incredibly rare, forged at lower temperatures, quite easy to mess up
Mithral - metal made from a soft, glittering, silvery-black ore. Needs to be forged in Elemental Fire
Adamantine - alloy made from Silver, Electrum, and pure adamant (a strong, but brittle, black-green ore). Needs to be forged in Elemental Fire. Almost impenetrable for both weapons and magic

[...]my ancestors have been making plate armor way before their ancestors even began throwing rocks at each other. Damn these arrogant Bits with their arrogant demands...
— Unknown dwarf smith

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