Authorised but unissued ordinary share capital as percentage of issued share capital.

No definition available.

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

- Definition

Buy back of ordinary shares during any financial year as percentage of issued share capital.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

No Par Value Per Share

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	gfi_NoParValuePerShare
Namespace Prefix:	gfi_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes of the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_DisclosureOfClassesOfShareCapitalLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The number of shares authorised.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 1
-IssueDate 2019-01-01
-Paragraph 79
-Subparagraph a
-Clause i
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_79_a_i&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2019-03-27

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_NumberOfSharesAuthorised
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The nominal value per share.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 1
-IssueDate 2019-01-01
-Paragraph 79
-Subparagraph a
-Clause iii
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2019-en-r&anchor=para_79_a_iii&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2019-03-27

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_ParValuePerShare
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_RangeAxis=ifrs-full_TopOfRangeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_RangeAxis=gfi_TopOfRangeIssuedShareCapitalMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_ClassesOfShareCapitalAxis=ifrs-full_OrdinarySharesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Stated Capital - Additional Information (Detail) - $ / shares	May 22, 2018	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	May 25, 2017	May 24, 2017
Disclosure of classes of share capital [line items]
Shares authorised					1,000,000,000
Par value per share					$ 0.5
Top of range [member]
Disclosure of classes of share capital [line items]
Buy back of ordinary shares during any financial year as percentage of issued share capital	20.00%
Top of Range Issued Share Capital [member]
Disclosure of classes of share capital [line items]
Percentage of authorised but unissued stated capital as percentage of issued stated capital	5.00%
Ordinary Shares [member]
Disclosure of classes of share capital [line items]
Shares authorised		2,000,000,000	2,000,000,000	1,000,000,000	1,000,000,000
No par value per share				$ 0	$ 0