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
Heavy mineral sands ore deposits Chile and Ecuador, is carried out in an environmentally responsible manner. Examples of environmentally sensitive and politically sensitive mineral sand mining operations which have gained public attention and galvanised environmental activism responses to mining proposals include the Tuart-Ludlow mineral sands mine, Western Australia, and the culmination of conservationist efforts to preserve Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia. These latter campaigns successfully lobbied government and saw Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach protected by the High Court of Australia; however, the Tuart-Ludlow campaign failed to prevent mining works in the Tuart forests in coastal Western Australia. Similar mineral sand mining operations