BHP's aluminium smelters spared strike's impact

Wed Aug 6, 2008 4:17am EDT

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 6 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton's two aluminium smelters in South African were not affected by a one-day workers strike on Wednesday, and were operating normally despite a 99-percent attendance by workers.

"We have a 99 percent attendance at the Hillside and Bayside smelters, and operations are normal. The few workers that did not make it were unable to do so because public transport was disrupted," BHP's Johannesburg-based spokesman Maredi Mogodi told Reuters. (Reporting by James Macharia)