Cartier - Goldlake Joint

Goldlake’s Eurocantera mine is an innovative gold mining business committed to operating to high ethical, social and environmental standards.

Eurocantera is an integrated operation combining :

• an alluvial gold mine with deposits that are close to the surface and require no hard rock blasting and with a cyanide-free extraction process which uses only water, in closed circuit;

• a small-scale community mining group which pans gold using traditional techniques and uses no mercury

The community producer group is responsible for approximately one-third of the mine’s production.

Among Eurocantera’s many strong points:

• chemical-free technology and processes

• a zero discharge water management system

• 100% recycling of waste material - such as gravel and clay - from mining

• a reforestation program

• a clinic providing free health services to Eurocantera’s employees as well as the community

• the creation of much needed road infrastructure for isolated villages

• training and education programs for artisanal miners on how they can operate responsibly and safely, along with access to free equipement, expertise such as accounting, and ultimately critically-needed path to market

The agreement will run for an initial three years and Cartier will be purchasing the entirety of Goldlake’s Eurocantera production for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. While the mine’s production currently represents a small part of Cartier’s gold supply, it represents an important step in Cartier’s quest for continuous improvement in the jewellery supply chain.

A founding member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (www.responsiblejewellery.com), Cartier has long sought to leverage its prominent place in the jewellery world to help drive improvement in the jewellery supply chain at large, from mine to retail. RJC members, which also include Goldlake’s refinery in Arezzo, Italy and the Eurocantera mine, are committed to having their practices independently verified against the provisions of the RJC’s Code of Practices in the areas of ethics, and social and environmental performance.

Taking continuous improvement one step further, Cartier, in choosing to partner with Goldlake Group, seeks to reward innovative and exemplary mining practices, in the hope that this example will inspire others – in effect demonstrating the existence of a broader market for ethical gold, and encouraging other operations with high added social and environmental value to emerge.

Cartier and Goldlake shall both continue to seek new ways of making a difference to the gold supply chain, by taking steps that will serve to drive better practices in the industry as a whole.

ABOUT CARTIER

In keeping with Cartier’s dedication to excellence since its foundation in 1847, and with its exceptional reputation, the Maison prides itself in being a responsible jeweller, fully committed to the highest ethical, social and environmental standards.

Cartier is a founding member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, a not-for-profit organisation created in 2005 in order to advance responsible business practices in the jewellery supply chain from mine to retail, which comprises over 160 member organisations (www.responsiblejewellery.com)

Goldlake and the Responsible Jewellery Council are part of Cartier's larger commitment to establishing responsible business practices in the jewelry supply sector.

To read more about Cartier’s commitments, please visit the Cartier, Responsible Jeweller section of our website:

http://www.cartier.co.uk/#/tell-me/excellence/commitment:/tell-me/excellence/commitment/cartier-responsible-jeweller/cartier-responsible-jeweller

ABOUT GOLDLAKE GROUP

Goldlake Group is owned by Gold Holding, the holding company of the family of Franco Colaiacovo, a founder of Italy’s third-largest cement company, Colacem. Goldlake Group was formed in 2003 and holds the majority stake of Eurocantera, an Honduran-registered company that operates in gold-bearing deposits in Honduras.

Eurocantera owns exploration and extraction concessions over ten thousand five hundred hectares in the Valley of the Lepaguare, in the department of Olancho, 130 Km to northeast of the capital Tegucigalpa. Eurocantera’s gold is refined in Arezzo, Italy, where we have a precious metals refinery. This refinery is dedicated to process only gold from our mine in Honduras, thereby ensuring the final product that we supply to our customers is fully traceable. The refinery is currently preparing for ISO 9000, ISO 14001 and SA8000 certification in 2010.

To read more about Goldlake’s project, please visit the Goldlake Group website: www.goldlake.co.uk.