A number of South African school children are being financially supported by Elementis Specialty Rubber.	The rare desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), is being protected at Elementis Specialties, Newberry Springs, US.	School children visiting the Elementis Pigments laboratories at Birtley, UK.

Policy
It is the Elementis policy to actively promote the safety and well being of the communities in which we operate and to ensure that we conduct our business in a way that is open and transparent to our neighbours.

Strategic direction
We seek to engage positively with our local communities. It is our policy to operate as a 'good neighbour' and we encourage and facilitate employees volunteering or fund raising in support of local community organisations.

Implementation
Amongst the programmes ongoing in 2003 were:

The Eaglescliffe Ecology Site (UK)
Employees, working as volunteers, have created a 30 hectare (74 acre) ecology site on land owned by Elementis Chromium at Eaglescliffe. In addition to conserving a fragile environment the site is used to educate children about nature and the environment. Additionally, local disabled groups visit and use specially designed bicycles to experience and enjoy the freedom of the site, while non-violent prisoners are given the opportunity to work on the site as part of their resettlement programme and in so doing provide useful support in the development of the site. The ecology site has won a number of awards, most recently a Green Apple (silver award) from the UK Institute for Environmental Health for the construction of a walkway, giving wheelchair access to a wetland section of the site.

Tortoise Habitat (US)
Elementis Specialties has donated 130 hectares (320 acres) of land designated as Class I (best) Tortoise Habitat to the U.S. Government at the hectorite mine in Newberry Springs, California, US.

Elementis has also constructed a tortoise fence around the mine and moved all tortoises to burrows outside the fence. All local employees have been given tortoise awareness training.

Urban regeneration (US)
Following discussions with the local community, Elementis Pigments relocated their global headquarters to a new site adjacent to their existing pigments plant in East St Louis, Illinois, US, as part of a project to regenerate the local area.

Other examples of community involvement include:

• work and training placement for laboratory technicians, trainees and school children at the Pigments site at Birtley, UK

• sponsorship of a High School Entrepreneur Workshop by the Specialties site at St Louis, US

• tutoring and mentoring of school children from economically distressed neighbourhoods by employees of the Chromium site at Corpus Christi, US

• support for children's homes, abused women's shelters, literacy training and a helpline and medical assistance for AIDS sufferers by employees of Specialty Rubber, South Africa

• the use of Specialty Rubber, Malaysia's medical facilities, including a qualified doctor, for employees' families.

At Elementis, we monitor our activities and benchmark ourselves against those companies considered 'best in class'.

Community involvement guidelines
Elementis takes a decentralised approach to working with the communities in which we operate. The Company sets guidelines but does not dictate any specific areas or priority for corporate support, since we are aware that needs and priorities vary from community to community. This bottom up approach is designed to encourage management and employees at individual sites to focus on local issues and to take full responsibility for implementation of local programmes. Certain activities are excluded from Elementis involvement or support, such as:

• Non profit organisations in the US not eligible for support under federal IRS code

• Endowments

• Fraternal and veterans groups

• Individuals

• Political organisations and campaigns

• Sectarian or religious groups

• Discriminatory groups

Elementis is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance. We strive to conduct out business with integrity and respect for others, as well as complying with the law in all the jurisdictions within which we operate.