Galena

One of the main ores produced at Tsumeb during its almost 100 years of operation was Galena but, surprisingly for Tsumeb, nicely crystallised specimens are few and far between.  This large thumbnail has a matrix of massive Galena on top of which is an excellent Galena crystal displaying a complexly modified cuboctahedral prism measuring up to 0.9 cm.  This and other smaller Galena crystals are surrounded by micro-crystals of Quartz and small dark Smithsonite crystals containing Galena inclusions.  Tsumeb mine is in the Oshikoto Region of Namibia, some 361 km north of the capital, Windhoek (as the crow flies).