Five of its nine board members were removed at a special shareholders meeting last week and replaced by activist shareholder Paulson & Co's director nominees. 

Michael Kenyon, one of the ousted board members, resigned from his role as interim CEO and the board accepted his six-week notice on December 13.

"The human resources and compensation committee is proceeding immediately with an international search for a new chief executive officer," the company said yesterday.

Newly-appointed director Bill Williams is chairing the committee, which has new directors Ron Simkus and Dawn Whittaker as members, along with Andre Falzon.

Falzon joined Detour in 2013 and is the only long-term director to remain on the board since Paulson started publicly advocating for change mid-year.
 
The investor, which has control or direction over about 5.7% of Detour, had said it was increasingly frustrated by the company's inability to appropriately manage shareholders' assets and was now looking forward to "a brighter future".
 
Detour shares had plunged after the first quarter on forecast higher costs and lower mill throughput at its Detour Lake operation in Ontario, dropping from above C$14 near the end of April to a 52-week low of $9.11 on May 1.

They closed down 8c yesterday to $10.48 to capitalise it at $1.8 billion.