What shilajit is
Shilajit is not a plant, a mineral or a fungus. It is a humic exudate: the slow product of plant and microbial matter compressed and transformed in rock over centuries, seeping from cracks in warm months as a blackish-brown resin. ASCENTIALS sources it in the Altai.
By mass, most of shilajit is humic substances and trace minerals, in proportions that vary from deposit to deposit. That variation is why identity and contaminant testing matter more than the length of a mineral list on a label. 1
What it is made of
Fulvic acid. The smallest of the three humic substances, with the lowest molecular weight (under ~1 kDa) and the highest oxygen content. It is the fraction most often measured when shilajit is compared.
Humic acid. The larger, less soluble relative of fulvic acid, making up much of the resin's dark mass.
Dibenzo-α-pyrones (DBPs). A family of small aromatic molecules identified in shilajit alongside the fulvic fraction.
Trace elements. Minerals present in small, deposit-dependent amounts. We will publish what is measured in our own material rather than quote a generic figure.
Why purity comes first
Shilajit's origin is also its main quality risk. Because it forms in rock, raw resin can carry heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and mercury from the surrounding geology, and poorly handled material can carry microbial contamination. This is the central quality question for the whole category. 1
Independent testing across the market has shown variability between products labelled “purified”, which is why a label claim is not a substitute for a batch test.
Our approach is procedural: purified Altai resin, with every batch tested for heavy metals and fulvic acid, and the results published before that batch is sold.
Sources, in full
The source this monograph draws on for composition and safety.
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Stohs SJ · Phytother Res · 2014 ReviewSafety and efficacy of shilajit (mumie, moomiyo). Phytotherapy Research 28(4):475–479.
The compendium entries
Each Codex entry is the short, canonical statement of one term in this review; this monograph is the evidence beneath them.