Detour Gold Announces Record Production for Q4 and Full Year 2018

Press Release

TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2019 – Detour Gold Corporation (TSX: DGC) (“Detour Gold” or the “Company”) reports strong fourth quarter and full year 2018 operating results for its Detour Lake mine located in northeastern Ontario. The Company’s fourth quarter and full year 2018 financial results will be released on March 6, 2019.

All 2018 numbers are preliminary figures, unaudited and subject to final adjustment. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.

2018 Highlights

• Gold production of 621,128 ounces for the year, above the mid-point of the annual guidance
• Gold production of 158,200 ounces for the fourth quarter, representing best ever quarterly production
• Annual average mill throughput of 56,594 tpd and fourth quarter average of 60,300 tpd
• Annual mining rate of 287,000 tpd and fourth quarter mining rate of 305,000 tpd
• Year-end cash and cash equivalents of approximately $132 million
• Finishing the year with over 4 million hours without a lost time incident (LTI)

Frazer Bourchier, COO of Detour Gold, commented: “We surpassed our production target for 2018 with a strong finish to the year. The fourth quarter represented our third successive quarter with overall operational improvement with record total tonnes mined and gold production. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on continuing the momentum in making operational efficiency gains while reducing unit costs to meet our targets for 2019 and beyond.

Bill Williams, Interim CEO, added: “These recent results provide confirmation that the operational changes made throughout the year have had a positive impact. We look forward to reporting on further progress during the course of 2019 and to regaining investor confidence.”

2018 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operational Results

• Fourth quarter gold production of 158,200 ounces, bringing total gold production for the year to 621,128 ounces, representing an increase of 9% from 2017.
• Mill processed 5.6 million tonnes (Mt) of ore at a head grade of 0.98 g/t with recoveries of 90.9% in the fourth quarter. For the year, the mill processed 20.7 Mt of ore at a head grade of 1.04 g/t and recoveries of 90.1%. Higher head grade reflected positive grade reconciliation. Advancements in fixed maintenance practices, along with progressing the plant capital projects, led to increased plant operating time and higher recoveries in the fourth quarter.
• A total of 28.0 Mt (ore and waste) was mined in the fourth quarter (equivalent to mining rates of 305,000 tpd), representing a third consecutive quarter of improvement and the most tonnes mined in a quarter since the commencement of operations. The month of December averaged 318,000 tpd. For the year, a total of approximately 105 Mt was mined, in line with expectations.
• The gold in-circuit inventory returned to normal levels during the fourth quarter.
• Run-of-mine stockpiles stood at 5.5 Mt grading 0.62 g/t (approximately 109,000 contained ounces) at year-end.

2018 Detour Lake Mine Operational Statistics

	Q1 2018	Q2 2018	Q3 2018	Q4 2018	2018	2017
Ore mined (Mt)	5.8	4.9	4.3	5.3	20.1	19.7
Waste mined (Mt)	16.7	21.4	23.7	22.7	84.7	80.4
Total mined (Mt)	22.5	26.3	28.0	28.0	104.8	100.1
Strip ratio (waste:ore)	2.9	4.4	5.6	4.3	4.2	4.1
Mining rate (k tpd)	250	289	304	305	287	274
Ore milled (Mt)	4.6	5.1	5.4	5.6	20.7	21.4
Head grade (g/t Au)	1.17	1.06	0.97	0.98	1.04	0.93
Recovery (%)	91.1	88.9	89.3	90.9	90.1	89.6
Mill throughput (tpd)	50,860	55,825	59,219	60,300	56,594	58,508
Ounces produced (oz)	157,141	154,385	151,402	158,200	621,128	571,463
Ounces sold (oz)	151,060	146,856	139,821	172,935	610,672	561,974

Note: Totals may not add due to rounding.

• Total capital expenditures for 2018 are estimated to be below the guidance of $265 to $285 million. Sustaining capital expenditures are expected to be lower than guidance of $206 million due to delays in the construction of Cell 2 of the tailing facility, deferral of other discretionary capital, and a weaker Canadian dollar than budgeted.

2018 Year-end Financial Update

• As at December 31, 2018, the Company had $312 million of zero-cost foreign exchange collars to hedge its Canadian dollar denominated costs whereby it can sell U.S. dollars at an average rate of 1.27 and can participate up to an average of 1.35. This represents a hedge coverage ratio of approximately 50% for projected 2019 expenditures.
• As at December 31, 2018, the Company had a total of 30 million litres of outstanding diesel fuel contracts at an average rate of Cdn$0.85 per litre, which will settle on a net basis.
• As at December 31, 2018, the Company has approximately $132 million of cash and cash equivalents and $222 million available and undrawn from its $500 million Credit Facility.

Technical Information

The scientific and technical content of this news release was reviewed, verified and approved by David Londono, Senior Manager Mining, a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.”

About Detour Gold

Detour Gold is an intermediate gold producer in Canada that holds a 100% interest in the Detour Lake mine, a long life large-scale open pit operation. Detour Gold’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol DGC.

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