Gerald Panneton Sudden Resignation from Detour Gold

Detour Gold Corporation announced today that, effective immediately, Gerald Panneton, Detour Gold's President and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned.

As a result of the sudden and unexpected resignation Detour Gold’s share price plummeted 30 per cent to $2.97 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The drop in share price means that today's share price of $2.97 is much lower than the $3.50 per share initial public offering in 2007.

In an exclusive interview from London, England with MiningLifeOnLine, Michael Kenyon the Chair of the Detour Gold’s Board of Directors said Panneton’s resignation may be related to the to the new ramp up phase recently entered by Detour which poured its first gold bar in September, 2013.

“Everything with Detour Gold’s ramp up is going extremely well,” Kenyon said indicating that Panneton’s resignation which appears to be unexpected was not related to the operation of Detour Gold.

“We all recognize the immense contribution Gerald has made to Detour Gold since 2006 and on behalf of the Board, I wish to extend our genuine appreciation for his dedicated service which has been instrumental in bringing Detour Gold from its early years as an exploration company, through the development of the Detour Lake gold mine and, ultimately, its achievement of commercial production on September 1^st,” said Michael Kenyon, Executive Chair of the Board of Directors.

“The Board wishes Gerald well in his future endeavours.” Kenyon added.

Paul Martin, the current Chief Financial Officer has been named as the interim Chief Executive Officer succeeding Gerald Panneton while the Company conducts a search for a new chief executive officer. James Mavor, Vice President, Finance, has been appointed interim Chief Financial Officer during this period.

While acknowledging the near-term challenges, Mr. Kenyon added that "the Board has full confidence in the Company's management team to take Detour Gold forward under the direction of Mr. Martin and Mr. Beaudoin, COO."

Mr. Martin noted that "the Company's priority remains on optimizing the operation of the Detour Lake gold mine to achieve nameplate capacity. Our near-term objectives are well defined and include finalizing the 2014 budget after we have had the benefit of seeing the results of the remainder of 2013." Mr. Martin added that "as previously disclosed, we intend to complete our life of mine and a reserve update in early 2014 which will be followed with an updated NI 43-101 report."

Detour Gold is an emerging mid-tier gold producer in Canada. The Company is ramping up its 100% owned Detour Lake mine to a long life, large scale open pit operation. The Detour Lake mine has proven and probable reserves of 15.6 million ounces of gold.

As a result of the sudden and unexpected resignation Detour Gold’s share price plummeted 30 per cent to $2.97 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The drop in share price is much lower than the $3.50 per share initial public offering in 2007.