General - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Description of spin-off	On November 29, 2012, Gold Fields announced the creation of a new South African gold mining company through the listing and subsequent unbundling of its 100% owned subsidiary, Sibanye Gold Limited (“Sibanye Gold”), formerly known as GFI Mining South Africa Proprietary Limited, which holds the KDC and Beatrix gold mines as well as various service companies. The separation of Sibanye Gold from Gold Fields is referred to as the Spin-off. The board of directors of Gold Fields, or the Board, passed the resolution necessary to implement the Spin-off on December 12, 2012 and the Spin-off was completed on February 18, 2013.
Sibanye Gold [Member]
Restructuring Cost and Reserve [Line Items]
Ownership percentage in subsidiary	100.00%

Description of a specific restructuring plan and related activities including the facts and circumstances leading to the restructuring or decision to exit an activity, and the expected completion date. This concept and related items would be utilized for each plan if multiple exit plans have been implemented in the period.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB)

-Number Topic 5

-Section P

-Subsection 3, 4

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 420

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (a)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6394359&loc=d3e17939-110869

Name:	us-gaap_RestructuringAndRelatedActivitiesDescription
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration