Detour Gold lost a quarter of its value after announcing that its CEO, Gerald Panneton, was resigning “effective immediately”.
Detour is trading at $3.18 as of 2 p.m. ET. The company’s 52-week range is $2.88 to $26.68.
The company’s chief financial officer Paul Martin becomes interim CEO while the company searches for a new leader.
The company may need to make some financial adjustments. It is producing gold at a cost perilously close to the current spot price. In its Q3 from early this month Detour Gold announced cash costs of $1,214 per gold ounce. Spot gold as of today is trading at $1,247 per ounce.
No reason was given for the sudden departure.
“[We] all recognize the immense contribution Gerald has made to Detour Gold since 2006,” wrote the company’s chair Michael Kenyon.
“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 1st. The Board wishes Gerald well in his future endeavours.”
Detour Gold is a mid-tier gold producer. Its flagship Detour Lake gold project is located on the northern most of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northeastern Ontario.
Year to date the company has lost 87% of its value.
Back in May billionaire investor John Paulson’s hedge fund put $153 million into the Detour Gold.
Detour Lake is located 130 km NE of Cochrane, Ontario.