Interim Financial Statements - Narrative (Details)						1 Months Ended	2 Months Ended	3 Months Ended						9 Months Ended		14 Months Ended
	Oct. 02, 2020 USD ($)	Sep. 29, 2020 USD ($) shares	Jul. 22, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	May 22, 2020 USD ($) shares	Nov. 28, 2019	Jul. 31, 2020 USD ($) shares	Sep. 23, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) shares	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2020 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Oct. 09, 2020 USD ($)	Sep. 08, 2020 USD ($)	Aug. 06, 2020 USD ($)	May 15, 2020 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) shares	Dec. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 19, 2019 USD ($)	Nov. 18, 2019 USD ($)	Oct. 14, 2019 USD ($)	Aug. 30, 2019 USD ($)	May 31, 2019 USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2019 USD ($)	Feb. 18, 2019 USD ($)
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Accumulated deficit								$ 217,548,201						$ 217,548,201								$ 235,890,272
Net income (loss)								17,330,062	$ 1,275,986	$ (263,212)	$ 386,897	$ (2,077,744)	$ (1,835,065)	18,342,836	$ (3,525,912)
Cash used in operating activities														2,409,947	2,282,511
Cash and cash equivalents								1,677,233						1,677,233								1,015,857
Convertible preferred stock exchanged, amount														3,900,000
Issuance of convertible preferred stock								$ 0						$ 0								$ 0
Common stock, shares issued (in shares) | shares			2,040,483					34,440,766						34,440,766								27,236,489
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock			$ 1,250,000					$ 1,400,000						$ 4,197,622	$ 3,835,867	$ 1,700,000
Number of shares issued in transaction (in shares) | shares			2,040,483					3,450,138								2,327,400
Sale of stock, price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares								$ 0.40						$ 0.40
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares) | shares								34,440,766						34,440,766								27,236,489
Issuance of common stock								$ 22,937						$ 22,937						$ 314,687		$ 18,139
Notes receivable								4,500,000						$ 4,500,000
Notes receivable interest rate														12.00%
Long-term debt								4,765,254						$ 4,765,254								$ 5,412,074
Principal amount																		$ 4,475,000
Common stock, aggregate offering agreement, share value																														$ 50,000,000
Common stock, aggregate offering agreement, used capacity														8,200,000
Common stock, aggregate offering agreement, unused capacity								41,800,000						41,800,000
Common stock, aggregate offering agreement, unrestricted share value								$ 10,500,000						$ 10,500,000
Average price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ 0.61								$ 0.74				$ 0.74	$ 0.74
Preferred Stock, shares issued (in shares) | shares								0				1,274		0								0
Common shares issued on conversion (in shares) | shares											2,240,441				2,240,441	2,240,441
Convertible instruments outstanding								$ 0						$ 0								$ 0
Reverse stock split ratio					0.2
Effective income tax rate														0.00%
2019 Equity Agreement
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Authorized amount of stock available for sale																													$ 50,000,000
Paycheck Protection Program grant
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Principal amount																					$ 300,000
Three Promissory Notes | Unsecured Debt
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt								4,500,000						$ 4,500,000
Principal amount																			$ 4,475,000
Subsequent Event
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Preferred stock redemption price	$ 2,600,000
Weighted average conversion price (in dollars per share)	120.00%
Subsequent Event | Three Promissory Notes | Unsecured Debt
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt																	$ 1,900,000
Comstock Mining LLC
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt								$ 4,700,000						$ 4,700,000
Pelen LLC
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Ownership interest percentage								25.00%						25.00%
Triton
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock			$ 1,250,000
Aggregate offering price, up to						$ 1,250,000
Average price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ 0.61
Leviston Resources LLC
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock							$ 2,500,000
Number of shares issued in transaction (in shares) | shares							2,793,586
Aggregate offering price, up to						$ 2,500,000
Average price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 0.89
Fee percentage paid to issuance common stock						5.00%
Number of shares issued to paid fee (in shares) | shares						173,611
Common stock, commitment fee value						$ 125,000
Tonogold Resources, Inc.
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Sale of membership interest																		100.00%
Convertible preferred stock exchanged, amount		$ 2,820,000		$ 1,100,000
Issuance of convertible preferred stock				$ 7,600,000				$ 2,600,000						$ 2,600,000								6,100,000	$ 100,000	$ 500,000	$ 7,600,000	$ 750,000	$ 830,000	$ 3,920,000
Common stock, shares issued (in shares) | shares		15,666,667		6,111,111				21,777,778						21,777,778
Proceeds from the issuance of common stock														$ 1,400,000
Number of shares issued in transaction (in shares) | shares														3,557,209
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares) | shares								18,220,569						18,220,569
Issuance of common stock								$ 7,100,000						$ 7,100,000
Weighted average conversion price (in dollars per share)				120.00%
Preferred Stock, shares issued (in shares) | shares		2,820		1,100
Tonogold Resources, Inc. | Subsequent Event
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Issuance of convertible preferred stock	$ 2,200,000
Murray FO | 2019 Equity Agreement
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Authorized amount of stock available for sale																													$ 5,000,000
Discount to the volume weighted average sales price of aggregate offering price																													10.00%
Tonogold Resources, Inc.
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Issuance of convertible preferred stock								$ 6,100,000						$ 6,100,000								$ 6,100,000
Tonogold Resources, Inc. | Subsequent Event
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Preferred stock redemption price	2,200,000
Redeemed CPS for cash	$ 2,600,000
Weighted average conversion price (in dollars per share)	120.00%