Galena of Missouri and Wisconsin; the former mining communities of Galena, Kansas and Galena, Illinois take their names from deposits of this mineral. The largest documented crystal of galena is composite cubo-octahedra from the Great Laxey Mine, Isle of Man, measuring . Galena belongs to the octahedral sulfide group of minerals that have metal ions in octahedral positions, such as the iron sulfide pyrrhotite and the nickel arsenide niccolite. The galena group is named after its most common member, with other isometric members that include manganese bearing alabandite and niningerite. Divalent lead (Pb) cations and sulfur (S) anions form a close-packed
Primary minerals as basalt, rhyolite, andesite and obsidian) and intrusive rocks (such as granite, granodiorite, gabbro and peridotite) contain primary minerals including quartz, feldspar, plagioclase, muscovite, biotite, amphibole, pyroxene and olivine in varying concentrations. For the classical discussions of the origin of primary ores, see the two publications "Ore Deposits" (1903 and 1913). According to W.A. Tarr (1938) the primary mineral deposits are the result of direct magmatic action; he states that the splitting of magmas results in the basic igneous rocks and their accompanying group of accessory minerals formed by the first crystallization in the magma, on the one hand, and