Detour Gold names Paulson-backed Bill Williams as interim CEO

Reuters | January 3, 2019 | 12:34 pm Base Metals Precious Metals Canada Copper Gold

Kirkland Lake reports wide, high-grade intersections at Detour Lake

Detour Lake mine, a large-scale open pit mine in northeastern Ontario. (Image courtesy of Detour Gold)

Detour Gold said on Thursday it has picked Paulson & Co-backed nominee Bill Williams to be its interim chief executive officer, replacing Michael Kenyon.

The Canadian gold miner was previously involved in a months-long proxy fight with billionaire John Paulson’s hedge fund, which pushed for a complete overhaul of the board and Kenyon’s resignation.

Williams is a mining industry veteran and was a former CEO of gold and copper miner Orvana Minerals Corp.

He was one of five members elected to the Detour Gold board at a special shareholders meeting held on Dec. 13. These nominees were backed by Paulson, which alleged that under the leadership of Kenyon the company had “unsuccessfully tried to boost short-term performance”.

Shares of the company were up 1.5 percent at C$11.93 in early trade.

(Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)