CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (USD $)	12 Months Ended			24 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2011
OTHER INCOME (LOSS)
Interest	$ 116,956	$ 242,170	$ 288,952	$ 359,126
Gain on disposition of marketable securities	772,698	241,621	2,274,848	1,014,319
Gain (loss) on sale of equipment	1,460,727	419,413	(3,423,544)	1,880,140
Gain on sale of subsidiaries (Note 10)	0	474,577	0	474,577
Gain on extinguishment of debt	1,304	0	554,507	1,304
Foreign currency gain (loss)	6,829	(21,907)	5,429	(15,078)
Net OTHER INCOME (LOSS)	2,358,514	1,355,874	(299,808)	3,714,388
EXPENSES
Corporate general and administrative	6,625,793	3,288,691	4,559,721	9,914,484
Venezuelan operations	1,285,368	1,714,543	3,600,648	2,999,911
Equipment holding costs	1,669,254	1,567,181	401,336	3,236,435
Write-down of machinery and equipment	1,881,959	2,518,796	0	4,400,755
Corporate communications	620,705	525,658	753,737	1,146,363
Legal and accounting	518,216	446,611	1,320,855	964,827
Arbitration (Note 3)	6,659,359	6,289,647	673,592	12,949,006
Takeover defense	0	0	1,330,366	0
Total EXPENSES	19,260,654	16,351,127	12,640,255	35,611,781
Loss before interest expense, income tax and extraordinary item	(16,902,140)	(14,995,253)	(12,940,063)	(31,897,393)
Interest expense	(6,710,253)	(6,641,877)	(1,283,349)	(13,352,130)
Loss before income tax and extraordinary item	(23,612,393)	(21,637,130)	(14,223,412)	(45,249,523)
Income tax benefit	0	0	27,496	0
Loss before extraordinary item	(23,612,393)	(21,637,130)	(14,195,916)	(45,249,523)
Extraordinary loss on expropriation of assets (Note 3)	0	0	(85,833,897)	0
Net loss for the period	$ (23,612,393)	$ (21,637,130)	$ (100,029,813)	$ (45,249,523)
Net loss per share, basic and diluted	$ (0.40)	$ (0.37)	$ (1.75)
Weighted average common shares outstanding	59,470,615	57,754,492	57,309,238