Adamant

Adamant was a pure, jet-black metal ore that was found on Toril. It was among the hardest, lightest and most brittle ore on the planet, being used in the creation of the alloy adamantine. Adamant was extremely rare throughout the realms, materializing in spherical clusters within solidified volcanic flows.

Description
Despite its extreme hardness, adamant was so brittle that an weapon or shield forged from the metal could be easily shattered by another metal weapon or or even a hardwood staff or club. It offered great protection against both magical and natural flames, and was inherently immune to all elemental effects.

Adamant was glossy black in appearance and reflected images with a distinct rainbow outline.

Uses
As of the mid-14 century DR, the pure form of adamant was not used in the forging of weapons and armor in Faerûn due to its unique properties. However, adamant styluses were used to etch inscriptions and ornamental designs into other metal items.

It was often used in metallurgic experiments by dwarves as they constantly sought to create an alloy that was superb to the well-known adamantine. Some dwarves have worked with wizards to create enchanted, adamant plate mail that when shattered, the fragments of the black metal would remain magically bound to provide some imperfect form of protection for the wearer.

Cost
A quantity of adamant ore was worth five times the same ammount of gold. An adamant stylus typically sold for 35-50 gp, but they were not commonly found across the Realms, save for the Great Rift and perhaps the city of Waterdeep.