Financial - risk management objectives and policies - Financial Position (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Disclosure Of Financial risk management [Line Items]
Leasing	$ 7,839	$ 7,503
Less cash and short-term deposits	(235,449)	(210,046)	$ (369,200)	$ (214,551)
Minera Yanacocha SRL and subsidiary [Member]
Disclosure Of Financial risk management [Line Items]
Debt and accounts payables	226,333	188,896
Leasing	330	596
Less cash and short-term deposits	(870,929)	(818,503)
Net debt	(644,266)	(629,011)
Total liquidity	$ 870,929	$ 818,503

The amount of cash on hand and demand deposits, along with short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and that are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value. [Refer: Cash; Cash equivalents]

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 7
-IssueDate 2020-01-01
-Paragraph 45
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=7&code=ifrs-tx-2020-en-r&anchor=para_45&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2020-01-01

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IFRS
-Number 12
-IssueDate 2020-01-01
-Paragraph B13
-Subparagraph a
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IFRS&num=12&code=ifrs-tx-2020-en-r&anchor=para_B13_a&doctype=Appendix&subtype=B
-URIDate 2020-01-01

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IAS
-Number 1
-IssueDate 2020-01-01
-Paragraph 54
-Subparagraph i
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/xifrs-link?type=IAS&num=1&code=ifrs-tx-2020-en-r&anchor=para_54_i&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2020-01-01

Name:	ifrs-full_CashAndCashEquivalents
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant