The copper-bronze metallurgy in the Harappan civilization was widespread and had a high variety and quality. The early use of iron may have developed from the practice of copper-smelting. While there is to date no proven evidence for smelted iron in the Indus Valley civilization, iron ore and iron items have been unearthed in eight Indus Valley sites, some of them dating to before 2600 BCE. There remains the possibility that some of these items were made of smelted iron, and the term "kṛṣṇa-ayas" might possibly also refer to these iron items, even if they are not made of smelted iron.
Lothali copper is unusually pure, lacking the arsenic typically used by coppersmiths across the rest of the Indus valley. Workers mixed tin with copper for the manufacture of celts, arrowheads, fishhooks, chisels, bangles, rings, drills and spearheads, although weapon manufacturing was minor. They also employed advanced metallurgy in following the cire perdue technique of casting, and used more than one-piece moulds for casting birds and animals.  They also invented new tools such as curved saws and twisted drills unknown to other civilizations at the time.