Protections when working with a dangerous supermaterial

Question

In my world, there is a material called amaranthine. This material is effectively energy condensed into an unstable crystalline form (via a series of processes that aren't relevant to this question).

Amaranthine in its raw form is incredibly dangerous:

• Detonates if the surface of a sample below 1,700° C is cracked
• Produces a toxic gas if a heated crystal is exposed to certain catalysts (such as water)
• Suppresses magic nearby; the larger the quantity, the larger the area
• Drains energy from living organisms nearby; the larger the quantity, the larger the area and the more potent the effect

Amaranthine, however, has amazing properties when successfully worked that make it one of the most coveted materials:

• Able to produce any number of colors through proper additives to the forge (jewelry)
• Practically impervious to harm (armor, walls, doors, safes, etc.)
• Capable of penetrating almost any defense (weapons)
• Resistant to all forms of natural or magical energy discharges such as a fireball spell or lightning

Mining and working amaranthine is, of course, no simple feat. Only elves can resist the magic-suppressing and energy-draining effects of the raw material (but they can't use magic in the first place, so it's a moot point) and, for historical reasons, there aren't a lot of elves around, let alone ones able and willing to work with the material. Thus, states/societies/countries that possess the personnel to both mine and forge amaranthine are fiercely protective of that resource and do everything they can to conceal mines, smithies, and trade routes.

Converting raw amaranthine into a worked product is hazardous, so procedure is paramount. Early in the process, a sample must be bathed in molten iron for several hours and allowed to cool and solidify. This process helps stabilize the amaranthine sample, but also renders the iron unusable (it gets "poisoned" by the amaranthine), producing 450 kg of slag for every 1 kg of workable amaranthine. This stabilized amaranthine isn't as prone to detonation as its raw form, but it does happen, and the threat doesn't disappear entirely until the forging process is complete.

This question is specifically aimed at the design of a smithy that must combine secrecy with protection against the various threats of the raw materials.

How should an aspiring warlord, established state, or entrepreneurial society design a secret smithy capable of safely working with amaranthine?

Additional notes:

• Amaranthine in its pre-crystalline form interferes with electricity. Thus, modern means of detection (satellites, etc.) are not a concern for secrecy.
• Worked iron can be used to contain the magic-suppressing and energy-draining effects of raw amaranthine, but doing so causes the iron to heat. Too much contained material can cause the iron to melt.
• I have considered both above- and underground designs for a smithy, but cannot settle on which would be more effective, efficient, and safe, so I leave it to you to argue which is better.
• The process of converting raw material into a final product neutralizes the dangers identified above.

Answer 1

With your description, you don't need a proper smithy to work the amaranthine. Throwing it into a giant pot of solid iron would be enough if you want to be super lazy.

This is because you mentioned that, amaranthine can be treated by being bathed in motel iron for several hours. and that iron can be used to surpress the draining effects but this causes it to melt.

Throwing it into a pot of iron means that the Amaranthine will melt the iron itself and once it has been properly converted, will no longer have the ability to do so. So throw it into some pots that can be buried underground or in the back, come back in a few hours and your already set.

The only other issue would be transportation, but bathing it in oil or an inert gas (Nitrogen) would be a very simply way to prevent it from releasing toxic gas. The entire magic/life drain can be prevented by just using elves and having multiple people nearby to offset the life drain, before putting it in the iron pot.

Answer 2

Are you sure that converting it into an inert form is the best use of Amaranthine? You are basically decommissioning a nuclear-biological-chemical combo warhead (with just a hint of cobalt thorium G added for that extra area denial) just to make some trinkets.

But if you insist that is the best use, then instead of smithing I would rather get the pre crystalline form packed into a ceramic mould which would be then dipped into either molten iron or if the state of iron doesn't matter into a water-cooled bed of small iron balls (it is not clear from the description whether the process requires molten iron or is it merely an effect of magical heating of the material). I assume that Amaranthine doesn't strictly require direct contact with iron for the process to work as the centre of the sample doesn't come into contact with surrounding material in the original process. If direct contact is required, the mould could be open from the top side. Resulting

All this could be done with minimum use of the magic resistant workforce - moulds could be prepared offsite, packing of the material could be done by semi-skilled labourers - either disposable or as a time-share task (think firemen extinguishing the burning reactor at Chernobyl: run in, work for 60 seconds, run away). Any further operation could be done remotely using an arrangement of pulleys and cables.

And by the way, the interference with electricity is exactly how new sources and processing plants could be located.