The board of Canadian miner Detour Gold has committed to improve the operational performance of the Detour Lake mine, in Ontario, and on Wednesday issued an updated life-of-mine (LoM) plan for its flagship operation.

Chairperson Alex Morrison expressed his confidence in the company’s team, led by interim CEO Michael Kenyon and new COO Frazer Bourchier, but refrained from addressing the issue of a strategic review, which a group of shareholders, including hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, is pushing for.

Paulson & Co, according to Bloomberg News, had written to Detour Gold earlier this week requesting that the company put itself up for sale and criticising the board for failing to “recruit and oversee a management team capable of operating the Detour Lake mine in a manner that delivers returns to shareholders”.

The board said that it believed Kenyon as interim CEO was the best solution in the near term, but stressed that it would complete an extensive CEO search to lead Detour Gold going forward.

The board further said it was confident that the implementation of a new mine plan, following a six-month review by the new COO, was the best value-maximising alternative and that it would position Detour Lake as “a leading intermediate gold producer”.

“Both management and the board are highly focused on operational improvements. The impact of the changes we are making will not be evident immediately, but we intend to deliver consistent execution under Frazer’s leadership,” Morrison said.

The updated plan puts LoM production at Detour Lake at 14.9-million ounces, compared with the April 2018 estimate of 15-million ounces, with average yearly output estimated at 659 000 oz/y.

All-in sustaining costs of $843/oz are in line with previous estimates of $810/oz to $850/oz.

The updated plan delivers a net present value of C$3.45-billion, which equates to about C$19.70 a share.

Commenting on the updated 2018 mine plan, Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Josh Wolfson says that the plan is in line with the prior framework, noting that production and costs from 2018 to 2020 are weaker, but in line with expectations.

Wolfson noted, however, that Detour Gold did not address the issue of a strategic review and said that Paulson & Co could pursue a board overhaul.