Detour Gold Reports Solid Second Quarter 2015 Results

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jul 29, 2015) - Detour Gold Corp. (TSX:DGC) ("Detour Gold" or the "Company") reports its operational and financial results for the second quarter of 2015. This release should be read in conjunction with the Company's second quarter 2015 financial statements and MD&A on the Company's website or on SEDAR. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Q2 2015 Highlights

• Record gold production of 125,348 ounces
• Mill throughput rates averaged 57,015 tpd
• Mining rates averaged 280,000 tpd
• Total cash costs of $734 per ounce sold⁽¹⁾ and all-in sustaining costs of $1,030 per ounce sold⁽¹⁾
• Revenues of $147.5 million on gold sales of 123,296 ounces at an average realized price of $1,215 per ounce⁽¹⁾
• Amendment of Cdn$135 million Credit Facility
• Net loss of $15.4 million ($0.09 per share) and adjusted net earnings of $0.5 million ($nil per share)⁽¹⁾
• Cash and short-term investments balance of $133.2 million at June 30, 2015
• Drilling program of 30,000 metres at Lower Detour started at end of June

"We are pleased to report a record quarter. Operationally, the mine and mill exceeded our expectations as reflected by the significantly higher production and lower costs reported this quarter," said Paul Martin, President and CEO. "We expect to continue on this trend and finish the year on a strong note with higher gold production and lower costs in the second half of the year aided by a weaker Canadian dollar."

Q2 2015 Summary Operational Results

• Gold production totaled 125,348 ounces, approximately 9% above the mid-point of the guidance range for the second quarter of 2015.

• For the quarter, the mill facility processed a record 5.2 million tonnes (Mt) of ore or an average of 57,015 tonnes per day (tpd) at recoveries of 91%. Processed grade was 0.82 grams per tonne (g/t), slightly higher than projections for the quarter.

• Mill operating time at 88% was in line with projections with a four day planned shutdown in June to replace SAG and ball mill liners on both lines, complete further improvements on the 410 conveyor system, and conduct a number of annual inspections which included the thickeners.

• Milling rates attained 2,712 tonnes per operating hour (tpoh) for the second quarter, exceeding the budget rate of 2,600 tpoh and the design rate of 2,500 tpoh. The processing plant has now been operating at design capacity of 55,000 tpd since March 2015.

• A total of 25.5 Mt (ore and waste) was mined in the second quarter (equivalent to mining rates of 280,000 tpd for Phase 1 and 2), approximately 18% higher than the annual budgeted rate of 238,000 tpd and above the fourth quarter target of 268,000 tpd.

• Phase 2 pre-stripping totalled 1.4 Mt for the quarter.

• At the end of the quarter, run-of-mine stockpiles had been successfully re-built to 1.7 Mt grading 0.71 g/t, providing operational flexibility for the second half of 2015.

• Total cash costs for the second quarter of 2015 were $734 per ounce sold⁽¹⁾ and all-in sustaining costs were $1,030 per ounce sold⁽¹⁾, lower than plan due to higher production and a favorable exchange rate.

• Lower unit costs were achieved in the second quarter, mainly due to more tonnes mined and milled. In addition, plant operating costs benefited from consumables (i.e. grinding media, cyanide, and SO₂) declining to their lowest levels since production commenced.

Note: mill availability is defined as mill operating time.

• For the remainder of 2015, the Company is targeting mining rates ranging between 250,000 and 290,000 tpd. Mine development will be focusing on opening the eastern part of the pit, delivering material to the tailings area using the mine haulage fleet, and maximizing feed grade by further reducing mining dilution. Access to the higher grade ore is now anticipated to start in the third quarter versus the fourth quarter and as a result approximately 10,000 to 15,000 ounces from the fourth quarter production is targeted to be processed in the third quarter.
• A second test of processing fines (enriched portion of the low-grade stockpile, referred to as mineralized waste grading an average of 0.44 g/t gold in the February 2014 life of mine plan) started on July 1 at a rate of up to 4,000 tpd. The test is scheduled to continue throughout the third quarter.

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Q2 2015 Financial Performance

• Metal sales for the second quarter were $147.5 million. The Company sold 123,296 ounces of gold at an average realized price of $1,215 per ounce⁽¹⁾, higher than the average London PM fix gold price of $1,192 per ounce due to the Company's gold hedging program.

• Cost of sales for the first quarter was $140.0 million, including $39.8 million of depreciation and depletion expense, or $323 per ounce sold.

• The Company recorded a net loss of $15.4 million ($0.09 per share) in the second quarter. Adjusted net earnings⁽¹⁾ in the second quarter amounted to $0.5 million ($nil per share) and excludes non-cash items such as the impact of foreign exchange resulting in a deferred tax recovery and change in the fair value of the Company's convertible notes.

Q2 2015 Liquidity and Capital Resources

• Operating cash flow for the quarter was $52 million.

• During the quarter, sustaining capital expenditures were $25.8 million and included $7.5 for the mine, $5.2 million for the plant, $6.5 million for the tailings facility, and $6.6 million for others. There were no cash deferred stripping costs for the period.

• On June 25, 2015, the Company reported an amendment to its Cdn$135 million senior credit facility, which eliminated the Completion Test and provided more flexible financial covenants. The Company has no amount drawn under the revolving facility of Cdn$85 million and Cdn$42.6 million drawn under the Cdn$50 million letter of credit facility.

• Production costs in the second quarter of 2015 include an unfavourable adjustment to the Company's electricity rebate related to electricity usage from January 2013 to April 2015. The adjustment resulted in an additional cost of $12.5 million, of which $9.7 million was recorded in current period production costs, and $2.8 million related to pre-commercial production period and charged to property, plant and equipment. The portion of the adjustment relating to 2015 usage amounted to $2.0 million. The balance is payable in 20 equal monthly instalments commencing in the third quarter of 2015.

• Cash and short term investments increased to $133.2 million at June 30, 2015.

Financial Risk Management

• As at June 30, 2015, the Company had a total of 35,000 ounces of outstanding gold hedges at an average price of $1,276 per ounce to be settled before the end of the third quarter.

• The Company has entered into a commodity swap to economically hedge approximately 50% of its diesel consumption for the next three months, representing approximately 6 million litres. The Company will purchase a diesel product at a fixed price of $0.46 per litre, and sell at the average monthly rate.

• As at June 30, 2015, the Company has zero-cost collars to hedge a total of $40 million, guaranteeing it will purchase Canadian dollars at a rate of no worse than 1.11 and can participate at a rate of up to 1.21. In addition, the Company has $40 million of forward contracts at an average exchange rate of 1.26.

Outlook

• Detour Gold reaffirms its 2015 guidance of between 475,000 and 525,000 ounces of gold at total cash costs⁽¹⁾ of $780 to $850 per ounce sold. All-in sustaining costs⁽¹⁾ are expected to be between $1,050 and $1,150 per ounce sold.

• Expected sustaining capital expenditures and capitalized stripping costs for 2015 remain as previously stated at approximately $90 to $100 million and $20 to $25 million, respectively.

• Exploration expenditures for 2015 have increased to approximately $8 million with this summer 30,000 metre drilling program at Lower Detour.

• The LOM plan update is expected to be completed at the end of 2015 and will be released along with the 2016 guidance.

Lower Detour Drilling Program

The Company started its 30,000 metre drilling program at the end of June. To date, 7,200 metres in 20 holes have been completed on the Lower Detour target, located 6 to 7 kilometres south of the Detour Lake processing plant. The majority of the holes have encountered visible gold in the targeted mineralized zones. Assay results are pending.

Technical Information

The scientific and technical content of this news release was reviewed, verified and approved by Drew Anwyll, P.Eng., Senior Vice President, Technical Services, a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects."

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call on Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 10:00 AM E.T. where senior management will discuss the second quarter operational and financial results. Access the conference call as follows:

• Via webcast, go to www.detourgold.com and click on the "Q2 2015 Results Conference Call and Webcast" link on home page
• By phone toll free in Canada and the United States 1-800-319-4610
• By phone internationally 416-915-3239

The conference call will be recorded and playback of the call will be available after the event by dialing toll free in Canada and the United States 1-800-319-6413, or internationally 604-638-9010, pass code 1532 (available up to August 31, 2015).

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.

Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures

The Company has included certain non-IFRS measures in this news release. The Company believes that these measures, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers.

To improve comparability, total cash costs, all-in sustaining costs, average realized margin, adjusted net earnings (loss) and adjusted net earnings (loss) per share were revised, based on allocating the electricity adjustment into the appropriate historical period to which the cost applied (refer to the Second Quarter 2015 MD&A under the section "Revised non-IFRS measures: Electricity adjustment". The Company believes this adjustment will result in a more meaningful trend analysis for investors and analysts to evaluate the Company's performance. Additional details on the adjustment are included in the Second Quarter 2015 MD&A under "Cost of Sales".

The non-IFRS measures are defined below and are reconciled with the reported IFRS measures. Refer to the Company's Second Quarter 2015 MD&A for full details. The tables below are in thousands of dollars, except where noted.

Total cash costs

Detour Gold reports total cash costs on a sales basis. Total cash costs include production costs such as mining, processing, refining and site administration, agreements with Aboriginal communities, less non-cash share-based compensation and net of silver sales divided by gold ounces sold to arrive at total cash costs per gold ounce sold. The measure also includes other mine related costs incurred such as mine standby costs and current inventory write downs. Production costs are exclusive of depreciation and depletion. Production costs include the costs associated with providing the royalty in kind ounces.

All-in sustaining costs

Commencing in 2015, the Company adopted all-in sustaining costs on a prospective basis.

The Company believes this measure more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The Company calculates all-in sustaining costs as the sum of total cash costs (as described above), share-based compensation, corporate general and administrative expense, exploration and evaluation expenses that are sustaining in nature, reclamation cost accretion (also known as unwinding of the discount on decommissioning and restoration provisions), sustaining capital including deferred stripping, and realized gains and losses on hedges due to operating and capital costs, all divided by the total gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure.

Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise to a different definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining capital.

Average realized price and Average realized margin

Average realized price is calculated as metal sales per the statement of comprehensive loss and includes realized gains and losses on gold forwards, less silver sales. Average realized margin represents average realized price per gold ounce sold less total cash costs per ounce sold.

Adjusted net earnings (loss) and Adjusted basic net earnings (loss) per share

Adjusted net earnings (loss) and adjusted basic earnings (loss) per share are used by management and investors to measure the underlying operating performance of the Company. Presenting these measures from period to period helps management and investors evaluate earnings trends more readily in comparison with results from prior periods.

Adjusted net earnings (loss) is defined as net earnings (loss) adjusted to exclude specific items that are significant, but not reflective of the underlying operations of the Company, including: fair value change of the convertible notes, the impact of foreign exchange gains and losses, including the foreign exchange on deferred income and mining taxes, non-cash unrealized gains and losses on derivative instruments, accretion on convertible notes, unwinding of discount on decommissioning and restoration provisions, impairment provisions and reversals thereof, and other non-recurring items. In addition, adjusted net earnings (loss) excludes the impact of the electricity rebate related to prior periods electricity usage as described in MD&A for Q2 2015 "Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results - Cost of Sales" section. Adjusted basic net earnings (loss) per share is calculated using the weighted average number of shares outstanding under the basic method of loss per share as determined under IFRS.

The Company has included the additional IFRS measure "Earnings (loss) from mine operations" in this press release. Management noted that "Earnings (loss) from mine operations" provides useful information to investors as an indication of the Company's principal business activities before consideration of how those activities are financed, sustaining capital expenditures, corporate administration expense, exploration and evaluation expenses, loss on disposal of assets, finance income and costs, and taxation.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains certain forward-looking information as defined in applicable securities laws (referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). Specifically, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding production of between 475,000 and 525,000 ounces of gold in 2015 at estimated total cash costs of $780 to $850 per ounce of gold sold and all-in sustaining costs of between $1,050 and $1,150 per ounce sold; 2015 sustaining capital expenditures of between $90 and $100 million; 2015 capitalized stripping costs of between $20 and $25 million; mining rates of between 250,000 and 290,000 tpd for the remainder of 2015; mine development in the second half of 2015 to focus on opening the eastern part of the pit, delivering material to the tailings area using the mine haulage fleet, and maximizing feed grade by further reducing mining dilution; access to higher grade ore anticipated to start in the third quarter versus the fourth quarter, resulting in approximately 10,000 to 15,000 ounces from the fourth quarter production targeted to be processed in the third quarter; and completion of the LOM plan update at the end of 2015 to be released along with the 2016 guidance.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are beyond Detour Gold's ability to predict or control and may cause Detour Gold's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any of its future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, gold price volatility, changes in debt and equity markets, the uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data, increases in costs, environmental compliance and changes in environmental legislation and regulation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, general economic conditions and other risks involved in the gold exploration and development industry, as well as those risk factors discussed in the section entitled "Description of Business - Risk Factors" in Detour Gold's 2014 AIF and in the continuous disclosure documents filed by Detour Gold on and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements are also based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions about the following: the availability of financing for exploration and development activities; operating and capital costs; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff; the mine development schedule; sensitivity to metal prices and other sensitivities; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; timing of the receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals for development projects and other operations; the supply and availability of consumables and services; the exchange rates of the Canadian dollar to the U.S. dollar; energy and fuel costs; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities and general business and economic conditions. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date hereof, or such other date or dates specified in such statements. Detour Gold undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements contained herein whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

Contact

Detour Gold Corp.
Paul Martin
President and CEO
(416) 304.0800
Detour Gold Corp.
Laurie Gaborit
Director Investor Relations
(416) 304.0581
www.detourgold.com