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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't trade have sprung up almost instantly between the Elves and the Dwarves due to mithril?
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then finished goods of mithril would have formed an important part, if not the most important part, of their trade.
-Fordim
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No doubt the Longbeards traded locally, but trade to Beleriand seems a bit of a stretch
-Mithadan
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While I can't say for certain that some items of mithril didn't make their way to the west during the First Age, I'm inclined to agree with Mithadan that such trade would have been so limited as to not be a viable basis for a long lasting relationship. I think any mithril that did make it west to Beleriand and then from the Dwarves to the Elves would have been an extremely rare and novelty product that the Elves had to purchase with an arm and a leg. Although if there are any instances where Tolkien mentioned Elves using mithril weapons in the First Age I might have to revise my opinion.
I guess evidence suggests that some mithril
did make it west for the Elves to know about it and want to move near its source. Aiwendil's point is very interesting in this context. (Now if only we could say for sure who the inhabitants of Dorwinion were...we might have a picture of the Dwarves serving as middlemen for different groups of Elves. There's a thought to roll around in the head.)
Clearly, mithril was the basis for the relationship between the Longbeards and Eregion in the Second Age. It is tempting to speculate on the prices mithril could command during that time. Undoubtedly the price was high, but this would also have been the era when mithril was the most widely available. I think Fordim is on to something in his theory regarding what the Dwarves were getting in return in this period because it has to be remembered that this was the era of the height of the Longbeard's empire in Wilderland and their relationship with the Men living in that land was at its most prosperous. They were not dependent on their relationship with the Elves for food.
On another train of thought, it is also tempting to speculate on the role Dwarves played in the development of currency in Middle-earth. They were obviously sitting on top of the largest reserves of precious metals in the world, but metal is rather unpleasant to eat. What they needed was food. I personally don't think it unlikely that the Dwarves invented coinage as an easy means of transfer of their metal for the food they needed.