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Unredeemed Capital Expenditure (Parenthetical) (Detail) (USD $)	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]
Tax losses available for deduction against future income	$ 551,900,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards	$ 551,700,000us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards
Gold Fields La Cima
Tax Credit Carryforward [Line Items]
Tax losses available for deduction against future income	$ 0us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards / dei_LegalEntityAxis = gfi_GoldFieldsLaCimaMember	$ 0us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards / dei_LegalEntityAxis = gfi_GoldFieldsLaCimaMember

X

- Definition

Amount of operating loss carryforward, before tax effects, available to reduce future taxable income under enacted tax laws.

+ References

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

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 3

-Subparagraph (a)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32559-109319

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