Embattled gold miner Detour Gold will not ask interim CEO Michael Kenyon to vacate his position, only to be replaced by another CEO on an interim basis, the company’s board said on Thursday, dismissing a request from activist investor Paulson & Co to appoint Bill Williams to that position.

The Alex Morrisson-led board made it clear that Kenyon would be staying on until a permanent CEO has been found, but said that the acrimonious proxy battle with Paulson was hindering the process of appointing a new CEO.

“Leading Canada’s largest gold mine should not be treated like a short-term internship featuring on-the-job learning,” it stated, and offered a scathing view of Paulson’s proposed interim CEO.

“He is underqualified, having no openpit gold mining experience, a track record of losing shareholders’ money with a negative annualised total shareholder return of -28.5% and will be stretched thin having already taken on the role of interim CEO at Zinc One Resources.”

Detour reiterated that it believed the senior management should stay in place to ensure continuity in executing the Detour Lake mine, in Ontario’s, life-of-mine plan.

Detour has said that it will start the search for a CEO once the proxy battle is behind it.

Meanwhile, Detour also addressed the composition of the board in a letter to shareholders and noted that its recommendation of appointing two new directors – both recommended by Paulson – would stand the company in a better stead than a wholesale board change, as proposed by hedgefund manager John Paulson.

Detour has recommended that Steven Feldman and Christopher Robinson join the board. Once a new director joins the board when a CEO is appointed, the company would have added six new directors since August.

The letter was sent ahead of the special meeting that will be held on December 11, in Toronto, where shareholders will vote on the proposed board changes.

Detour Gold traded at C$9.94 a share on Thursday, down significantly from the C$15.40 a share it fetched about a year ago.