By LISA STEYN —

The bottom end of the commodities cycle continues to inflict pain on mining companies and Anglo Gold Ashanti announced even greater losses on Monday.

The world’s third largest gold miner, Anglo Gold Ashanti, on Monday reported a loss of $127-million in the three months ending June, compared with a loss of $89-million over the same period last year. The low metal price has been a significant burden for South Africa’s “sunset” industry. The price of gold slid 12.5% compared with last year fetching a cash cost of $718 per ounce in the second quarter of 2015, as opposed to $833 per ounce in the second quarter of 2015.

Despite this, the company said production levels were still better than expectations, as were cost cuts, and as a result the company was able to generate $71-million in free cash flow in the second quarter thanks to strong performance from international mines and a recovery from its South African operations (the profits for which improved by $7-million compared with the previous quarter, but were $40-million lower year-on-year).

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