14. INCOME TAXES (Details 2) (USD $)	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Deferred tax liabilities	$ 0us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilities	$ 0us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilities
Allowance for obsolete and slow-moving inventories	861	864
Impairment on property, plant and equipment	475,616	477,427
Exploration costs	2,026,986	1,952,990
Compensation costs of unexercised stock options	539,754	1,427,296
US federal net operating loss	9,816,518	9,692,379
Total deferred tax assets	12,859,735us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsGross	13,550,956us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsGross
Valuation allowance	(10,356,273)	(11,119,675)
Net deferred tax asset	2,503,462us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsLiabilitiesNet	2,431,281us-gaap_DeferredTaxAssetsLiabilitiesNet
Current deferred tax asset	861	864
Long-term deferred tax asset	$ 2,502,601	$ 2,430,417

Amount before allocation of valuation allowances of deferred tax asset attributable to deductible temporary differences and carryforwards.

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Amount after allocation of valuation allowances of deferred tax asset attributable to deductible temporary differences and carryforwards, net of deferred tax liability attributable to taxable temporary differences expected to be realized or consumed within one year or operating cycle, if longer.

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Amount before allocation of valuation allowances of deferred tax asset attributable to deductible domestic operating loss carryforwards. Excludes state and local operating loss carryforwards.

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Amount of deferred tax assets for which it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized.

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Amount of deferred tax liability attributable to taxable temporary differences net of deferred tax asset attributable to deductible temporary differences and carryforwards after valuation allowances.

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