Mining Properties (Details Textual) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		4 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2006 oz	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2008 oz	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Apr. 30, 2002 Martha [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Martha [Member]	May 23, 2005 Endeavor [Member] oz	Nov. 30, 2007 Joaquin Project - Argentina [Member] ha acre
Property, Plant and Equipment (Textual) [Abstract]
Acquisition of interest in mine								100.00%
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets Held-for-use		$ 1,293,000	$ 0		$ 6,106,000	$ 0			$ 6.0
Assets		$ 3,180,440,000			$ 3,180,440,000		$ 3,264,441,000
Quantity of acquired silver production and reserves										17,700,000
Commenced exploration area											28,450
Equivalent Commenced exploration area in Acres											70,300
Mining Properties (Textual) [Abstract]
Cumulative ounces of silver received by CDE Australia				4,100,000
Current ore reserve payable ounces based on current metallurgical recovery and current smelter contract terms				4,600,000
Silver production and reserves payable ounces	20,000,000