03:45 PM EDT, 07/26/2018 (MT Newswires) -- Detour Gold Corporation (DGC.TO) confirmed before close of trade Thursday it has received a requisition from Paulson & Co. Inc. requesting a special meeting of Detour Gold shareholders to consider several proposed resolutions. The Board of Directors' Special Committee will review the requisition and respond in due course, a statement said.

DGC said: "Shareholders are not required to take any action at this time. Shareholders should, however, be aware of the consequences of handing control of their company to an activist or even adding any Paulson nominees to their Board."

It added: "Detour Gold's focus is on the implementation of its life of mine plan, not a fire sale. Blindly following an agenda to sell the company now ignores the clear and present opportunities available through the disciplined execution of this plan. Diverting from the LOM Plan now, with no current superior alternatives, will leave a tremendous amount of value unrealized," said Alex Morrison, Chairman.

"Shareholders should be very concerned about Paulson's inexperienced handpicked nominees being elected to the Board, as a sale at this time will result in a substantial amount of value being left on the table. This is a clear choice between a Board that is committed to the methodical execution of its LOM Plan to deliver long-term value to all shareholders, over an activist who we believe will initiate an ill-timed fire sale of the company to benefit himself alone."

Paulson & Co. Inc., as investment manager of certain investment funds, said earlier Thursday afternoon it has requisitioned a special meeting of shareholders to replace the board of Detour Gold. Shares in DGC turned positive on the news for a bit, but have seen the shares decline again since.

Paulson will propose eight nominees to Detour Gold's board of Directors. In a statement it said: "Shareholders will have the opportunity to take back control of their company from a self-serving board. The current Detour Gold directors have presided over a period of massive value destruction with little regard for shareholder interests, while enriching themselves with shareholders' cash. It will soon be time for shareholders to stand up for their rights and replace Detour Gold's entire Board with a stellar team of competent and shareholder focused directors."

This comes after Detour Gold reported Q2 net earnings of $8.8 million, or $0.05 per basic share. This compares to net earnings of $24.4 million, or $0.14 per basic share for Q2 2017. Adjusted net earnings in the second quarter amounted to $21.3 million, or $0.12 per basic share, versus adjusted net earnings of $16.3 million, or $0.09 per adjusted basic share for the previous corresponding quarter.

Revenues for the second quarter were $191.8 million on the sale of 146,856 ounces of gold at an average realized price of $1,305 per ounce. This compares to revenues of $180.1 million on the sale of 142,970 ounces of gold at an average realized price of $1,257 per ounce.

Detour said exploration activities continued in Q2 2018 on the Detour Lake Property with 5,610 metres completed in 17 holes, for a total of 10,346 metres in 31 drill holes in the first half of 2018. The drilling focused on testing targets northeast and west of Zone 58N, within the West Detour project and east of the tailings facility. The company also released an initial mineral resource for Zone 58N this morning -- the mineral resource estimate is comprised of an Indicated resource of 2.87 million tonnes grading 5.80 g/t for 534,300 ounces of gold and an Inferred resource of 0.97 million tonnes grading 4.35 g/t for 136,100 ounces of gold.

Detour Gold's guidance for 2018 remains unchanged from its guidance of April 26, 2018.

Price: 12.93, Change: -0.10, Percent Change: -0.77