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Nature Of Operations And Basis Of Presentation	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012
Nature Of Operations And Basis Of Presentation [Abstract]
Nature Of Operations And Basis Of Presentation	1. Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation Vista Gold Corp. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Vista,”  the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”) operate in the mining industry and are focused on the evaluation, acquisition, exploration and advancement of gold exploration and potential development projects, which may lead to gold production or value adding strategic transactions. As such, we are considered an Exploration Stage Enterprise. Our approach to acquisitions of gold projects has generally been to seek projects within political jurisdictions with well-established mining, land ownership and tax laws, which have adequate drilling and geological data to support the completion of a third-party review of the geological data and to complete an estimate of the gold mineralization. In addition, we look for opportunities to improve the value of our gold projects through exploration drilling and/or technical studies resulting in changes to the operating assumptions underlying previous engineering work.  We are continuing to move our more advanced projects through technical, engineering and feasibility studies in order to make production decisions on those projects.  These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) and  should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2011 and 2010, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts.  These estimates and assumptions are based on information available as of the date of the financial statements.  In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments which are of a normal and recurring nature, necessary to present fairly in all material respects the financial position as of September 30, 2012, the results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, in conformity with U.S. GAAP.   Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2012 or for any future period. The December 31, 2011 condensed consolidated balance sheet was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required in the annual financial statements by GAAP.

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- Definition

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, the major products or services it sells or provides and its principal markets, including the locations of those markets. If the entity operates in more than one business, the disclosure also indicates the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination (for example, assets, revenues, or earnings).

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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 275

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Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

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-Number 94-6

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-LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy.

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