Abstract:Highgrade black jadeite is a kind of upscale and fashionable jade material that has become one of the jadeites characterized by fastest growing values in the past 20 years. Based on a comparison of mineralogical and geochemical characteristics between black jadeites (inky black jades)from different producing areas of the world, the authors hold that the black jadeites currently on the market can be mainly classified into jadeite jade, omphacitic jadeite jade and hornblende jade whose main components are jadeite, omphacite and dark green hornblende respectively. They include blackchicken jade, ink jadeite and blackkosmochlor from Myanmar and jade negro and galactic gold from Guatemala, with blackchicken jades similar to those from Myanmar also seen in Japan and Kazakhstan. The research results suggest that the main mineral composition, jade structure and inclusion characteristic combinations of black jadeite jades from different producing areas have their respective typomorphic natures, which can be used as the distinctive characteristics for their sources.