The present work describes the extraction of fulvic acids (FA) from Shilajit and its spectroscopic and mass spectrometric characterization. The spectral features obtained from FT-IR and 1HNMR were similar to those reported for humic substances from other sources. The molecular elemental composition analysis by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) in electrospray negative ion mode resulted in extraordinary high average O/C ratios (0.55) which might be caused by a significant contribution of carbohydrates in Shilajit. A very high average H/C ratio of 1.27 also points to dominant aliphatic or alicyclic structures and relatively low aromaticity. The average molecular formula of the nitrogen free elemental compositions measured by FT-ICR mass spectrometry is C18.2H23.0O10.0. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.