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Finance Lease Liabilities - Summary of Finance Lease Liabilities (Parenthetical) (Detail) - Gruyere power purchase agreement [member]	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2018
Disclosure of finance lease liabilities [line items]
Term of contract	15 years
Lease interest rate	3.46%

X

- Definition

Contract period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	gfi_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Disclosure of finance lease liabilities [line items]

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	gfi_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Finance lease interest rate.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	gfi_FinanceLeaseInterestRate
Namespace Prefix:	gfi_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	gfi_TypesOfAgreementAxis=gfi_GruyerePowerPurchaseAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: