Segment Information - Financial Information Table (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
		Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Oct. 06, 2014
Segment Information
Sales		$ 2,033	$ 1,746	$ 5,913	$ 5,275
Costs applicable to sales	[1]	1,133	1,185	3,171	3,328
Depreciation and amortization		331	318	896	922
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		66	80	208	239
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		437	25	1,158	260
Capital Expenditures				982	737
Additional disclosures
Increase (decrease) in accrued capital expenditures				41	(29)
Consolidated capital expenditures on a cash basis				941	766
Cripple Creek & Victor mine
Segment Information
Sales		38		38
Costs applicable to sales		10		10
Depreciation and amortization		6		6
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1		1
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		20		20
Capital Expenditures				27
Corporate and other
Segment Information
Depreciation and amortization		5	5	12	15
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		18	29	68	88
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		(51)	(167)	(400)	(491)
Capital Expenditures				287	44
North America | Operating Segments
Segment Information
Sales		526	590	1,513	1,711
Costs applicable to sales		359	365	962	1,037
Depreciation and amortization		93	70	236	208
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		16	21	42	55
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		61	138	263	441
Capital Expenditures				334	309
North America | Operating Segments | Carlin
Segment Information
Sales		261	304	780	865
Costs applicable to sales		208	206	572	607
Depreciation and amortization		54	40	145	118
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		5	5	12	16
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		(9)	49	41	113
Capital Expenditures				189	170
North America | Operating Segments | Phoenix
Segment Information
Sales		93	112	262	325
Costs applicable to sales		75	72	190	197
Depreciation and amortization		19	13	46	35
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1	3	3	4
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		(4)	20	13	79
Capital Expenditures				20	22
North America | Operating Segments | Phoenix | Gold
Segment Information
Sales		63	78	174	220
Costs applicable to sales		48	47	121	116
Depreciation and amortization		13	9	31	23
North America | Operating Segments | Phoenix | Copper
Segment Information
Sales		30	34	88	105
Costs applicable to sales		27	25	69	81
Depreciation and amortization		6	4	15	12
North America | Operating Segments | Twin Creeks
Segment Information
Sales		134	116	433	373
Costs applicable to sales		66	43	190	147
Depreciation and amortization		13	7	38	27
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		2		7	4
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		52	65	194	238
Capital Expenditures				39	86
North America | Operating Segments | La Herradura
Segment Information
Sales			58		148
Costs applicable to sales			44		86
Depreciation and amortization			10		28
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration			5		11
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)			(1)		22
Capital Expenditures					20
North America | Operating Segments | La Herradura | La Herradura PLC
Additional disclosures
Ownership interest sold (as a percent)						44.00%
North America | Operating Segments | Other North America
Segment Information
Depreciation and amortization		1		1
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		7	8	19	20
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		2	5	(5)	(11)
Capital Expenditures				59	11
South America | Operating Segments
Segment Information
Sales		288	314	831	819
Costs applicable to sales		158	125	400	530
Depreciation and amortization		91	74	233	259
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		19	17	54	50
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)			84	85	(88)
Capital Expenditures				62	88
South America | Operating Segments | Yanacocha
Segment Information
Sales		288	314	831	819
Costs applicable to sales		158	125	400	530
Depreciation and amortization		88	74	225	259
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		9	8	22	24
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		13	93	127	(47)
Capital Expenditures				62	58
South America | Operating Segments | Other South America
Segment Information
Depreciation and amortization		3		8
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		10	9	32	26
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		(13)	(9)	(42)	(41)
Capital Expenditures					30
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments
Segment Information
Sales		1,001	566	2,858	1,874
Costs applicable to sales		514	601	1,515	1,459
Depreciation and amortization		107	136	306	332
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		6	8	20	22
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		361	(171)	947	(12)
Capital Expenditures				202	210
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Boddington
Segment Information
Sales		260	245	789	732
Costs applicable to sales		164	190	511	537
Depreciation and amortization		33	32	99	93
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration				1
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		68	29	177	93
Capital Expenditures				42	63
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Boddington | Gold
Segment Information
Sales		224	201	665	611
Costs applicable to sales		131	150	410	425
Depreciation and amortization		27	26	81	75
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Boddington | Copper
Segment Information
Sales		36	44	124	121
Costs applicable to sales		33	40	101	112
Depreciation and amortization		6	6	18	18
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Tanami
Segment Information
Sales		141	100	399	324
Costs applicable to sales		54	67	170	185
Depreciation and amortization		22	17	63	52
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		2	3	5	8
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		66	16	164	77
Capital Expenditures				68	58
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Jundee
Segment Information
Sales			2		181
Costs applicable to sales					85
Depreciation and amortization					34
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration					1
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)			25		83
Capital Expenditures					15
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Waihi
Segment Information
Sales		32	47	121	132
Costs applicable to sales		12	20	48	58
Depreciation and amortization		4	7	12	19
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1	3	3	4
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		14	19	53	50
Capital Expenditures				11	10
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Kalgoorlie
Segment Information
Sales		95	102	269	316
Costs applicable to sales		68	71	206	213
Depreciation and amortization		5	4	16	14
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1	1	2	4
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		24	30	48	85
Capital Expenditures				14	16
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Batu Hijau
Segment Information
Sales		473	70	1,280	189
Costs applicable to sales		216	253	580	381
Depreciation and amortization		39	72	104	107
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1		6	2
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		199	(272)	536	(356)
Capital Expenditures				64	44
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Batu Hijau | Gold
Segment Information
Sales		214	9	506	27
Costs applicable to sales		83	26	205	43
Depreciation and amortization		15	8	38	13
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Batu Hijau | Copper
Segment Information
Sales		259	61	774	162
Costs applicable to sales		133	227	375	338
Depreciation and amortization		24	64	66	94
Asia Pacific | Operating Segments | Other Asia Pacific
Segment Information
Depreciation and amortization		4	4	12	13
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		1	1	3	3
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		(10)	(18)	(31)	(44)
Capital Expenditures				3	4
Africa | Operating Segments
Segment Information
Sales		218	276	711	871
Costs applicable to sales		102	94	294	302
Depreciation and amortization		35	33	109	108
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		7	5	24	24
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		66	141	263	410
Capital Expenditures				97	86
Africa | Operating Segments | Ahafo
Segment Information
Sales		89	138	297	435
Costs applicable to sales		50	56	148	182
Depreciation and amortization		11	13	39	46
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		5	4	16	18
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		22	66	88	181
Capital Expenditures				66	72
Africa | Operating Segments | Akyem
Segment Information
Sales		129	138	414	436
Costs applicable to sales		52	38	146	120
Depreciation and amortization		24	20	70	62
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration		2		6
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		51	78	185	240
Capital Expenditures				31	14
Africa | Operating Segments | Other Africa
Segment Information
Advanced Projects, Research and Development, and Exploration			1	2	6
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)		$ (7)	$ (3)	$ (10)	$ (11)

[1] Excludes Depreciation and amortization and Reclamation and remediation.