This is one of my pet subjects (and irritates some people to no end, sorry)
The elemental assosiations tend to wobble around a bit in every new published version of Glorantha. Here's the aggregate that I think fits best.
[Main elements]
Gold = Fire / Solar Tin = Air (from RQ-1) Copper = Earth Quicksilver = Water Lead = Darkness
[Additional]
Silver = Moon / Stars Iron = Death / Severance
The above avoids having bronze as an elemental metal, and doesn't require the minsing of words by calling it brass (argh!). Bronze still ends up being the metal of the young Storm-Gods, since they are a mixture of Storm-God Umath (tin), and Earth Goddesses (Copper).
We also do away with having two elemental metals for fire/sky, which doesn't feel right to me, and wastes gaming potential.
There are also cool effects and assosiations with the pure runic metals, beyond the stated enchanting effects in RQ:
Fire (gold) = Intelligence Storm (tin) = Strength Earth (copper) = Resilience (constitution) Water (q.silver) = quickness (dexterity) Darkness (lead) = Soul/spirit/fear Moon (silver) = Glamour, illusion(?) Death (iron) = Death, antimagic
***
And so forth.
I think that just works. Some people get upset because this doesn't attempt to remain true to _every_ contradictary canon sourse _at_the_ same_time_. But I think clarity and playability trumps obscure chapter and verse every time.
Make of it what you will friends,
-Adept: Finland, EU
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