Sustainability – How can a mining company contribute to sustainability?

Do you use a fork to eat? Do you drive a car? Do you use a computer? Do you live in a house? Do you ride a bicycle? Do you wear jewelry?

For all time, people have used the metals and minerals of the earth to provide tools for easier and more convenient living as well as for use in arts and culture. Thus we are all a part of the mining industry whether we work in it or participate in it indirectly by using the goods and services that are produced as a result of mining. By our choices as consumers and by dialoguing and working with those running mining companies we have the ability to continually improve the way in which mining is done.

There are numerous technical definitions for “sustainability”, for example from the fields of Biology and Economics. Electra Gold chooses to share the view of the British charity “ Forum for the Future ”, who define sustainable development as:

“A dynamic process which enables all people to realize their potential and improve their quality of life in ways which simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth's life support systems”

The goal of Electra's Board and Management is to continually make better decisions and choices to maximize long term sustainability and viability in all areas of the company as well as the communities and environment where the company has its operations.

Just as the management, Board and staff of Electra Gold is engaged in a dynamic process that enables all people connected to the company to realize their full potential, we are simultaneously helping each industrial mineral to realize its full potential by bringing it to market.

Sustainability is a key issue in the industry of mineral mining, which depends entirely on Earth's natural resources. There is a wide range of information and informed debate online, at sites such as:

http://www.wbcsd.ch/ - World Business Council for Sustainable Development

http://www.eli.org/research/miningcenter.htm - Environmental Law Institute

http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/ - Forum for the Future

http://www.sustainability.ca/ - Sustainability

What is corporate sacred responsibility?

The Board and Management of Electra Gold Ltd. don't pretend we have the answers to this question. We do believe however that it may be the most important question to address, not only for Electra Gold Ltd. as a company but also for the mining industry and for the corporate world as a whole.

We believe that one of the answers to this question is another question: How do we give back more than we take ? In other words, how do we give back more than we take from the earth, how do we give back more to our employees, contractors, customers and to the communities where we work?

Electra is taking the initiative to build a circle of people whether they be managers, Board members, contractors, customer, members of First Nations, elders, shareholders to help us to answer these questions and to participate with us in building a model of a compassionate, caring mining company that takes its stewardship responsibilities seriously.

We would like to extend the invitation to all our partners including our customers, suppliers and shareholders to consider this question and to help us continue the dialogue and the application of corporate sacred responsibility in every area of the company including relationships with First Nations, environmental stewardship, operations, finance and human resources. We are not only concerned about this from a local perspective but also how we might influence the way mining is done world-wide especially in areas where indigenous communities are involved. Electra strives to become a role model of corporate sacred responsibility for the business world.