Shungite Identification Guide

What Shungite Looks Like

Shungite is a non-crystalline carbon-rich rock composed largely of amorphous carbon. It comes in grades that look quite different:

• Elite (noble) shungite: ~90–98% carbon, bright silvery-black metallic luster, brittle, often in small angular nodules with shiny conchoidal surfaces.
• Black (regular) shungite: ~30–60% carbon, matte to semi-glossy black, takes a polish, used for carvings and beads.
• Gray shungite: lower carbon, duller and more rock-like.

Color is consistently black to silvery-black. Polished pieces look like deep, slightly warm black with a soft sheen rather than a glassy mirror.

Step-by-Step Field-ID Checklist

1. Heft it. Shungite is noticeably light for its size (low density) compared with most black minerals.
2. Check the luster. Elite shungite is bright and metallic; regular shungite is matte to satiny.
3. Do a streak/rub test. Lower-grade shungite can leave a faint black mark on paper like graphite; elite shungite is harder and shinier.
4. Test conductivity. This is the standout test: shungite conducts electricity. Touch a multimeter's probes to a piece — genuine shungite (especially elite) shows continuity/low resistance.
5. Look at the break. Conchoidal, glassy-black fracture on elite nodules.

Key Diagnostic Tests

• Mohs hardness: about 3.5–4 (elite) down to softer for low-carbon types.
• Streak: black to grayish-black.
• Specific gravity: low, roughly 1.8–2.0 — lighter than obsidian or hematite.
• Electrical conductivity: conducts electricity — the single most diagnostic and easy field/home test.
• Acid: no reaction with HCl.

Common Look-Alikes and How to Tell Them Apart

• Black obsidian: obsidian is volcanic glass, harder (5–5.5), heavier, glassier, and does NOT conduct electricity. Obsidian gives a true mirror polish; shungite's sheen is softer.
• Jet: jet is fossilized wood/lignite, warm to the touch, lighter still, and burns with a sooty flame and coaly smell; jet does not conduct electricity like shungite.
• Anthracite/bituminous coal: coal looks similar but is generally duller (anthracite can be shiny), and shungite is older, harder, and conductive; coal grades will smudge more and burn.
• Hematite (black): hematite is far heavier (SG ~5), gives a red-brown streak, and is non-conductive in the same casual test.
• Black tourmaline (schorl): much harder (7–7.5), striated crystals, not conductive in the same way.

The electrical conductivity test plus low weight separates shungite from nearly every black look-alike.

Where Shungite Is Found

Genuine shungite is essentially restricted to the Lake Onega region of Karelia, Russia — the type locality is the village of Shunga. Elite shungite is mined in small quantities from specific Karelian deposits (notably Zazhogino). Because the true source is so limited, provenance is a major part of authentication; material sold from other regions is usually mislabeled black stone.