Amount of facilitation loans accounted for as equity instruments and accordingly not recognized as loans receivable.

No definition available.

Name:	cmcl_FacilitationLoans
Namespace Prefix:	cmcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The proportion of ownership interests held by non-controlling interests recognized.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cmcl_NCIRecognised
Namespace Prefix:	cmcl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The proportion of ownership interests by non-controlling interests recognized subject to facilitation loans

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cmcl_NCISubjectToFacilitationLoans
Namespace Prefix:	cmcl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cmcl_StatementLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	cmcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The proportion of ownership interests in a subsidiary held by non-controlling interests. [Refer: Subsidiaries [member]; Non-controlling interests]

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Name IFRS
-Number 12
-IssueDate 2017-01-01
-Paragraph 12
-Subparagraph c
-URI http://eifrs.ifrs.org/eifrs/XBRL?type=IFRS&num=12&date=2017-03-01&anchor=para_12_c&doctype=Standard
-URIDate 2017-03-09

+ Details

Name:	ifrs-full_ProportionOfOwnershipInterestsHeldByNoncontrollingInterests
Namespace Prefix:	ifrs-full_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_SignificantInvestmentsInSubsidiariesAxis=cmcl_NIEEFMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_SignificantInvestmentsInSubsidiariesAxis=cmcl_FremiroMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_SignificantInvestmentsInSubsidiariesAxis=cmcl_CommunityTrustMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ifrs-full_SignificantInvestmentsInSubsidiariesAxis=cmcl_BETSMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Note 6 - Blanket Zimbabwe Indigenisation Transaction - Shareholder Percentages and Facilitation Loan Balances (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		12 Months Ended
	Feb. 20, 2012	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Statement Line Items [Line Items]
Shareholding	51.00%	51.00%
NCI Recognized		16.20%
NCI subject to facilitation loans		24.80%
Faciliation loans		$ 30,986	$ 31,052
NIEEF [member]
Statement Line Items [Line Items]
Shareholding	16.00%	16.00%
NCI Recognized		3.20%
NCI subject to facilitation loans		12.80%
Faciliation loans		$ 11,876	11,879
Fremiro [member]
Statement Line Items [Line Items]
Shareholding	15.00%	15.00%
NCI Recognized		3.00%
NCI subject to facilitation loans		12.00%
Faciliation loans		$ 11,466	11,504
Community Trust [member]
Statement Line Items [Line Items]
Shareholding	10.00%	10.00%
NCI Recognized		10.00%
Faciliation loans
BETS [member]
Statement Line Items [Line Items]
Shareholding		10.00%
Faciliation loans		$ 7,644	$ 7,669