沥青铀矿是一种放射性的，富含铀的矿石，主要成分为二氧化铀，同时亦包含三氧化铀、铅、钍和稀土元素。其发现历史可以追溯到至少十五世纪德国厄尔士山脉的银矿开采过程中。书面记录来却是源自F.E.Brückmann在1727年对捷克共和国Jáchymov地区的矿物记录。铀元素于1789年被德国化学家马丁·克拉普罗特（Martin Heinrich Klaproth）在Johanngeorgenstadt矿脉首先发现。 所有的沥青铀矿中均含有少量铀的放射性衰变产物镭。同时也含有少量铅的同位素Pb-206和Pb-207，U-235和U-238的衰变产物。作为α衰变的产物，沥青铀矿中还存在少量的氦。这也是氦在太阳光谱中被发现后第一次在地球沥青铀矿中被发现。沥青铀矿中还能找到极少量的锝（大约0.2ng/kg），由U-238裂变产生。

Uraninite is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO₂, but due to oxidation the mineral typically contains variable proportions of U₃O₈. Additionally, due to radioactive decay, the ore also contains oxides of lead and trace amounts of helium. It may also contain thorium, and rare earth elements. It used to be known as pitchblende (from pitch, because of its black color, and blende, a term used by German miners to denote minerals whose density suggested metal content, but whose exploitation, at the time they were named, was either unknown, impossible or not economically feasible). The mineral has been known at least since the 15th century from silver mines in the Ore Mountains, on the German/Czech border. The type locality is the historic mining and spa town known as Joachimsthal, the modern day Jáchymov, on the Czech side of the mountains, where F.E. Brückmann described the mineral in 1772. Pitchblende from the Johanngeorgenstadt deposit in Germany was used by M. Klaproth in 1789 to discover the element uranium.