Commitments And Contingencies	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]
Commitments And Contingencies	COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Our commitments and contingencies include the following items: ENVIRONMENTAL BONDING IN GHANA The Ghana Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") requires environmental compliance bonds that provide assurance for environmental remediation at our Bogoso/Prestea and Wassa mining operations. In July 2011, we increased a letter of credit for Wassa/HBB's environmental bonding from $2.85 million to $7.8 million. This brought the total bonded amount, including $0.15 million of cash, from $3.0 million to $7.95 million. In early 2012, the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency raised Wassa/HBB's reclamation bonding requirement to approximately $10.6 million, reflecting increases in on-going mining disturbances. In July 2012, we increased our cash deposit by $0.9 million and our existing letter of credit by $1.7 million to meet the $2.65 million bonding increase. We have also bonded $9.0 million to cover rehabilitation and closure obligations at Bogoso/Prestea. These bonding requirements have been met by an $8.1 million letter of credit from a commercial bank and a $0.9 million cash deposit held by a Ghanaian bank on behalf of the EPA. The cash deposits are recorded as Restricted Cash on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. In 2008, Bogoso/Prestea resubmitted an updated draft of an Environmental Management Plan (“EMP”) to the EPA that included an updated estimate of the reclamation and closure costs prepared by a third party consultant. A consultant was commissioned to prepare the reclamation and closure cost estimate and the final EMP was submitted to the EPA in February 2009. Bogoso/Prestea has completed all the legal requirements and is waiting for the environmental certificate. In the mean time, and in compliance with the legal time line for the previous EMP, Bogoso/Prestea prepared a new EMP and submitted it to the EPA in the fourth quarter of 2011. This EMP included a more current estimate of the reclamation and closure costs for Bogoso/Prestea and could result in a need for additional bonding later in 2012. In recent years, the bonds were provided by the same bank that provided our revolving credit facility. The credit facility expired on April 1, 2012 and the bonds expired on April 30, 2012. The environmental bonds were replaced with new bonds provided by a Ghanaian bank on May 1, 2012 on terms similar to the prior bonds. The Ghanaian bank provided an $8.1 million bond to GSBPL and a $9.6 million bond to GSWL. The new bonds are guaranteed by Golden Star Resources Ltd. GOVERNMENT OF GHANA'S RIGHTS TO INCREASE ITS PARTICIPATION Under Act 703, the Government of Ghana has the right to acquire a special share in our Ghanaian subsidiaries at any time for no consideration or such consideration as the Government of Ghana and such subsidiaries might agree, and a pre-emptive right to purchase all gold and other minerals produced by such subsidiaries. A special share carries no voting rights and does not participate in dividends, profits or assets. If the Government of Ghana acquires a special share it may require us to redeem the special share at any time for no consideration or for consideration determined by us. To date, the Government of Ghana has not sought to exercise any of these rights at our properties. ROYALTIES Dunkwa Properties As part of the acquisition of the Dunkwa properties in 2003, we agreed to pay the seller a net smelter return royalty on future gold production from the Mansiso and Asikuma properties. As per the acquisition agreement, there will be no royalty due on the first 200,000 ounces produced from Mampon which is located on the Asikuma property. The amount of the royalty is based on a sliding scale which ranges from 2% of net smelter return at gold prices at or below $300 per ounce and progressively increases to 3.5% for gold prices in excess of $400 per ounce. Government of Ghana The Ghana Government receives a royalty equal to 5% of mineral revenues. Hwini-Butre As part of the agreement for the purchase of the Hwini-Butre properties, Golden Star agreed to pay B.D. Goldfields Ltd, Hwini-Butre’s former owner, an additional $1.0 million in cash if at least one million ounces of gold are produced and recovered in the first five years of production from the area covered by the Hwini-Butre prospecting license. Gold production was initiated at Hwini-Butre in May 2009. It is not possible at this time to know if future exploration work will increase Hwini-Butre’s reserves sufficiently to yield production of one million ounces prior to May 2014, and as such, no amounts have been accrued in the financial statements. EXPLORATION AGREEMENTS Obuom In October 2007, we entered into an agreement with AMI Resources Inc. (“AMI”), which gives AMI the right to earn our 54% ownership position in the Obuom property in Ghana. Should AMI eventually obtain full rights to our position on the property and develop a gold mining operation at Obuom, we would receive from AMI a 2% net smelter return royalty on 54% of the property’s gold production. Goulagou and Rounga In October 2007, we entered into an option agreement with Riverstone Resources Inc. (“Riverstone”) whereby Riverstone had the right to acquire our 90% interest in the Goulagou and Rounga properties in Burkina Faso. To exercise the option, Riverstone was required to spend Cdn$4.0 million on exploration programs on the Goulagou and Rounga properties over a four-year period ended in February 2012, and could then purchase our interest for $18.6 million in cash or Riverstone common shares. We were also entitled to receive up to two million shares of Riverstone over the term of the option, all of which were received as of March 31, 2011. In addition, we received a one-time distribution of two million Riverstone common share purchase warrants during 2008. The Riverstone purchase warrants had an exercise price of Cdn$0.45 and were exercised in January 2012. In December 2011, Riverstone notified us of their intent to exercise their option to acquire Goulagou and Rounga in February 2012. The sale of exploration projects was completed in February 2012 upon receipt of $6.6 million of cash and 21.7 million Riverstone common shares valued at $15.8 million on the day of the sale. A gain of $22.4 million was recognized on the completion of this disposition in the Statement of Operations as the underlying properties were written down to a zero carrying value in prior periods. There was no tax expense recorded in connection with this transaction since there are sufficient carried forward tax losses in Canada to offset the gain. Subsequent to the conclusion of this transaction, there was a drop in the Riverstone stock price, and as a result, we recorded an unrealized loss of $7.6 million in the Statement of Comprehensive Income/Loss. The value of these Riverstone shares is $8.2 million at June 30, 2012. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS B.D. Goldfields Action - On July 19, 2011 B.D. Goldfields, Ltd. (“plaintiff”), a Ghanaian registered company, filed suit in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Justice (the "Court") in Accra, Ghana, against Golden Star Resources Ltd. and our subsidiary St. Jude Resources (Ghana) Ltd. The plaintiff challenged the validity of the concession contracts and settlements related to our acquisition in 2006 of the Hwini-Butre gold property in Ghana. In May 2012, the Court ruled in our favor on the basis that in an earlier action, which also challenged our ownership of the Hwini-Butre property, a Court of Appeals in Ghana had ruled that we were the legal owners of the Hwini-Butre mineral rights. Based on the Court of Appeal's ruling, the Court refused further consideration of the B.D. Goldfields action. Genser Legal Action - In March 2012, Genser Power Ghana Limited ("plaintiff"), a Ghanaian registered company, filed a suit in the High Court of Justice (the "Court"), in Sekondi, Ghana against our subsidiary Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea) Limited ("GSBPL"). The plaintiff challenged our ownership of an electric power generating plant that the plaintiff had constructed and subsequently operated on our behalf at GSBPL's Bogoso mine site from February 2010 to February 2012. Per terms of the plant's construction/operations contract, upon completion of construction, GSBPL was to make a series of payments to the plaintiff during the first two years of the plant's operational life and upon completion of such payments, the construction/operations contract required the plaintiff to transfer ownership of the plant to GSBPL for no additional consideration. At the end of the two year operational period, the plaintiff refused to transfer ownership to GSBPL stating that GSBPL's notice of intent to assume ownership was defective. GSBPL challenged the plaintiff's right to bring legal action in Ghana in this matter because the construction and operations contract provides that any disputes between GSBPL and the plaintiff would be resolved by international arbitration at the ICC in Paris, France. On May 4, 2012 the Court ruled that it would not hear the plaintiff's action since the construction/operations contract provides for international arbitration for all dispute resolutions. To date, we have received no notice of Genser's intent to pursue arbitration.

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Our commitments and contingencies include the following items:

ENVIRONMENTAL BONDING IN GHANA

The Ghana Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") requires environmental compliance bonds that provide assurance for environmental remediation at our Bogoso/Prestea and Wassa mining operations. In July 2011, we increased a letter of credit for Wassa/HBB's environmental bonding from $2.85 million to $7.8 million. This brought the total bonded amount, including $0.15 million of cash, from $3.0 million to $7.95 million. In early 2012, the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency raised Wassa/HBB's reclamation bonding requirement to approximately $10.6 million, reflecting increases in on-going mining disturbances. In July 2012, we increased our cash deposit by $0.9 million and our existing letter of credit by $1.7 million to meet the $2.65 million bonding increase.

We have also bonded $9.0 million to cover rehabilitation and closure obligations at Bogoso/Prestea. These bonding requirements have been met by an $8.1 million letter of credit from a commercial bank and a $0.9 million cash deposit held by a Ghanaian bank on behalf of the EPA. The cash deposits are recorded as Restricted Cash on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

In 2008, Bogoso/Prestea resubmitted an updated draft of an Environmental Management Plan (“EMP”) to the EPA that included an updated estimate of the reclamation and closure costs prepared by a third party consultant. A consultant was commissioned to prepare the reclamation and closure cost estimate and the final EMP was submitted to the EPA in February 2009. Bogoso/Prestea has completed all the legal requirements and is waiting for the environmental certificate. In the mean time, and in compliance with the legal time line for the previous EMP, Bogoso/Prestea prepared a new EMP and submitted it to the EPA in the fourth quarter of 2011. This EMP included a more current estimate of the reclamation and closure costs for Bogoso/Prestea and could result in a need for additional bonding later in 2012.

In recent years, the bonds were provided by the same bank that provided our revolving credit facility. The credit facility expired on April 1, 2012 and the bonds expired on April 30, 2012. The environmental bonds were replaced with new bonds provided by a Ghanaian bank on May 1, 2012 on terms similar to the prior bonds. The Ghanaian bank provided an $8.1 million bond to GSBPL and a $9.6 million bond to GSWL. The new bonds are guaranteed by Golden Star Resources Ltd.

GOVERNMENT OF GHANA'S RIGHTS TO INCREASE ITS PARTICIPATION

Under Act 703, the Government of Ghana has the right to acquire a special share in our Ghanaian subsidiaries at any time for no consideration or such consideration as the Government of Ghana and such subsidiaries might agree, and a pre-emptive right to purchase all gold and other minerals produced by such subsidiaries. A special share carries no voting rights and does not participate in dividends, profits or assets. If the Government of Ghana acquires a special share it may require us to redeem the special share at any time for no consideration or for consideration determined by us. To date, the Government of Ghana has not sought to exercise any of these rights at our properties.

ROYALTIES

Dunkwa Properties

As part of the acquisition of the Dunkwa properties in 2003, we agreed to pay the seller a net smelter return royalty on future gold production from the Mansiso and Asikuma properties. As per the acquisition agreement, there will be no royalty due on the first 200,000 ounces produced from Mampon which is located on the Asikuma property. The amount of the royalty is based on a sliding scale which ranges from 2% of net smelter return at gold prices at or below $300 per ounce and progressively increases to 3.5% for gold prices in excess of $400 per ounce.

Government of Ghana

The Ghana Government receives a royalty equal to 5% of mineral revenues.

Hwini-Butre

As part of the agreement for the purchase of the Hwini-Butre properties, Golden Star agreed to pay B.D. Goldfields Ltd, Hwini-Butre’s former owner, an additional $1.0 million in cash if at least one million ounces of gold are produced and recovered in the first five years of production from the area covered by the Hwini-Butre prospecting license. Gold production was initiated at Hwini-Butre in May 2009. It is not possible at this time to know if future exploration work will increase Hwini-Butre’s reserves sufficiently to yield production of one million ounces prior to May 2014, and as such, no amounts have been accrued in the financial statements.

EXPLORATION AGREEMENTS

Obuom

In October 2007, we entered into an agreement with AMI Resources Inc. (“AMI”), which gives AMI the right to earn our 54% ownership position in the Obuom property in Ghana. Should AMI eventually obtain full rights to our position on the property and develop a gold mining operation at Obuom, we would receive from AMI a 2% net smelter return royalty on 54% of the property’s gold production.

Goulagou and Rounga

In October 2007, we entered into an option agreement with Riverstone Resources Inc. (“Riverstone”) whereby Riverstone had the right to acquire our 90% interest in the Goulagou and Rounga properties in Burkina Faso. To exercise the option, Riverstone was required to spend Cdn$4.0 million on exploration programs on the Goulagou and Rounga properties over a four-year period ended in February 2012, and could then purchase our interest for $18.6 million in cash or Riverstone common shares. We were also entitled to receive up to two million shares of Riverstone over the term of the option, all of which were received as of March 31, 2011. In addition, we received a one-time distribution of two million Riverstone common share purchase warrants during 2008. The Riverstone purchase warrants had an exercise price of Cdn$0.45 and were exercised in January 2012. In December 2011, Riverstone notified us of their intent to exercise their option to acquire Goulagou and Rounga in February 2012. The sale of exploration projects was completed in February 2012 upon receipt of $6.6 million of cash and 21.7 million Riverstone common shares valued at $15.8 million on the day of the sale. A gain of $22.4 million was recognized on the completion of this disposition in the Statement of Operations as the underlying properties were written down to a zero carrying value in prior periods. There was no tax expense recorded in connection with this transaction since there are sufficient carried forward tax losses in Canada to offset the gain. Subsequent to the conclusion of this transaction, there was a drop in the Riverstone stock price, and as a result, we recorded an unrealized loss of $7.6 million in the Statement of Comprehensive Income/Loss. The value of these Riverstone shares is $8.2 million at June 30, 2012.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

B.D. Goldfields Action - On July 19, 2011 B.D. Goldfields, Ltd. (“plaintiff”), a Ghanaian registered company, filed suit in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Justice (the "Court") in Accra, Ghana, against Golden Star Resources Ltd. and our subsidiary St. Jude Resources (Ghana) Ltd. The plaintiff challenged the validity of the concession contracts and settlements related to our acquisition in 2006 of the Hwini-Butre gold property in Ghana. In May 2012, the Court ruled in our favor on the basis that in an earlier action, which also challenged our ownership of the Hwini-Butre property, a Court of Appeals in Ghana had ruled that we were the legal owners of the Hwini-Butre mineral rights. Based on the Court of Appeal's ruling, the Court refused further consideration of the B.D. Goldfields action.

Genser Legal Action - In March 2012, Genser Power Ghana Limited ("plaintiff"), a Ghanaian registered company, filed a suit in the High Court of Justice (the "Court"), in Sekondi, Ghana against our subsidiary Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea) Limited ("GSBPL"). The plaintiff challenged our ownership of an electric power generating plant that the plaintiff had constructed and subsequently operated on our behalf at GSBPL's Bogoso mine site from February 2010 to February 2012.

Per terms of the plant's construction/operations contract, upon completion of construction, GSBPL was to make a series of payments to the plaintiff during the first two years of the plant's operational life and upon completion of such payments, the construction/operations contract required the plaintiff to transfer ownership of the plant to GSBPL for no additional consideration. At the end of the two year operational period, the plaintiff refused to transfer ownership to GSBPL stating that GSBPL's notice of intent to assume ownership was defective.

GSBPL challenged the plaintiff's right to bring legal action in Ghana in this matter because the construction and operations contract provides that any disputes between GSBPL and the plaintiff would be resolved by international arbitration at the ICC in Paris, France. On May 4, 2012 the Court ruled that it would not hear the plaintiff's action since the construction/operations contract provides for international arbitration for all dispute resolutions. To date, we have received no notice of Genser's intent to pursue arbitration.