Equity (Deficit) (Details 3) (USD $)	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended					0 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Replacement Option	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Replacement Option Minimum	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Replacement Option Maximum	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Replacement Warrant	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Warrants expired on December 9, 2011	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Warrants expiring on February 20, 2014	Sep. 02, 2011 ECU Replacement Options and Warrants	Apr. 15, 2011 Minera EI Quevar S.A. Hochschild	Jan. 31, 2010 Minera EI Quevar S.A. Hochschild	Jan. 31, 2010 Minera EI Quevar S.A. Hochschild El Quevar project	Jan. 31, 2010 Minera EI Quevar S.A. Replacement Warrant Hochschild
Options issued (in shares)			653,000
Exercise price of options, low end of range (in dollar per share)			$ 16.00
Exercise price of options, high end of range (in dollar per share)			$ 60.00
Expiration date				Sep. 24, 2011	Oct. 22, 2014		Dec. 09, 2011	Feb. 20, 2014
Warrants issued (in shares)						2,218,292	386,363	1,831,929
Exercise price of warrants (in dollars per share)							$ 18.00	$ 19.00					$ 15.00
Fair value of interest issued or issuable			$ 1,100,000			$ 8,800,000			$ 9,900,000
Assumptions used in estimating fair value of the replacement options using the Black-Scholes option pricing model
Weighted average exercise price (in dollars per share)			$ 39.37
Weighted average volatility (as a percent)			69.10%
Expected term				1 month 6 days	3 years 1 month 6 days
Weighted average risk-free rate (as a percent)			0.14%
Weighted average fair value (in dollars per share)			$ 1.68
Ownership interest acquired (as a percent)											35.00%
Number of shares of common stock issued to acquiree		16,004,111									400,000		300,000
Exercisable period													3 years
Purchase of noncontrolling interest	$ (19,000)										$ 800,000
Percentage of ownership and controls of the concessions related to project after interest acquired												100.00%
Number of shares issued on exercise of warrants										104,889