South African miner Lonmin, the world’s third largest producer of platinum, has claimed “significant progress” on its recovery plan, as it cut costs and narrowed losses.

The London-listed company reported pre-tax losses of $21m (£14.6m) in the six months to March 31, compared to a loss of $118m the same time a year ago. Revenue climbed 1.3pc to $515m.

Lonmin launched a $400m rights issue in November as plunging platinum prices and high costs pushed it to the brink of collapse. The company offered 27 billion shares at 1p each – a 94pc discount to the producer’s closing price of 16.25p before the rights issue was announced.

The fundraising was the third time in six years that the miner had gone to shareholders for a cash injection. Thanks to the placing, Lonmin swung from a net debt of $282m to a net cash position of $114m at the end of its first half.

Ben Magara, chief executive, said Lonmin had “made significant progress on the delivery of its recovery plan”, with costs falling by 469m rand (£21m) in the first half, putting it more than half way towards its goal for the year. “In simple terms, we’ve done what we said we’d do.”