We came into our fifth session on December 29 having passed everything across to the Employer and were hoping to get responses in the morning. The Employer took until 1pm to pass across a proposal, which did not include economics. Despite the delay, we had productive conversations around the proposals that were passed. After we received the responses from the Employer, we worked diligently to get them back counters to their proposals. We moved on many topics and had valuable discussions about issues to help contextualize why we are making some of our proposals.
While we were waiting, our team met our new Union Rep Penny Cramer! Penny will be the Union Rep for the RNs immediately and will take over the Service and Tech units early next year. We also conducted Steward and leadership training to help our Bargaining Team understand the power of having strong Stewards in our workplaces and how we can all become one.
Because we have continued to make progress, we agreed to a one-month extension of our contract with the Employer and we are hoping to continue to make progress in our next session on January 7.
But the Warrington couple are still cutting back on luxuries to cover bills.
“We get a rise on our pension but it gets taken off you by food, petrol and everything else going up all the time so really you don’t benefit,” he said.
There is some hope on the horizon in spring, though. In the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said some levies placed on energy bills would go, lowering bills for millions of households by £150 a year from April.
That included cutting a scheme that was designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions, as well as shifting some costs onto general taxation.
People on fixed deals in April would still benefit from the changes, the government has confirmed.
However, about £30 will be knocked off those annual savings from April to pay for maintaining gas networks and strengthening the electricity transmission network.
There are also signs of lower wholesale costs, paid by suppliers.
Analysts at energy consultancy Cornwall Insight predict an 8% drop in the price cap in April – the equivalent of a fall of £138 to £1,620 a year for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity.
Energy bills are rising for millions of households in England, Scotland and Wales as the new year begins, after Ofgem raised its price cap slightly.
Prices for those on variable tariffs are rising by 0.2% from now, the equivalent to a £3 annual increase for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity.
Campaigners say this means billpayers are facing another winter of high energy prices with the latest increase, albeit small, coinciding with the coldest period of the year.
However, changes announced in the Budget should mean a fall in the cost of energy from April.
Regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap sets the maximum price for each unit of gas and electricity for those on variable tariffs, not the total bill – so those who use more energy, pay more.
The regulator’s cap is illustrated with a household using a “typical” amount of 11,500 kWh of gas and 2,700 kWh of electricity a year with a single bill for gas and electricity, settled by direct debit. This household would see a £3 rise in its annual bill from £1,755 to £1,758.
However, the amount used varies significantly between households, so the best way to calculate the change is to work out the percentage change from your own usual annual bill.
Standing charges – the fixed costs that cover the cost of running the network as well as government levies – will rise by 2% for electricity and 3% for gas, driving the overall increase.
Electricity unit rates are rising, offset by a slight fall in gas rates, meaning that heavy users of electricity will see the biggest impact.
The price cap affects England, Wales and Scotland, as the sector in Northern Ireland is regulated separately.
Ofgem says people can often save money by moving to a fixed tariff. That sets the unit price for a certain period of time, so anyone already on a fixed deal will not see a change now.
Emily Seymour, energy editor at consumer group Which?, said there were several deals on the market at prices lower than the price cap.
“As a rule of thumb, we’d recommend looking for deals cheaper than the current price cap, not longer than 12 months and without significant exit fees,” she said.
For many households, the heating will be on for longer as we enter January and February, with snow and ice warnings in place for some areas.
Some vulnerable households in certain areas of England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving cold weather payments, worth £25 a week, if the average temperature in a local area is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0C or below for seven days in a row.
Households can check their eligibility via a government online service. A separate winter heating payment operates in Scotland.
The £150 Warm Home Discount has been extended by the government to apply to more lower income households.
Simon Francis, from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said more needed to be done to help those who were struggling following the latest, small price increase.
“This is a case of every little hurts… we need to see much lower bills but also measures to keep people’s homes warmer every winter.”
James Jones and his wife Christine, like millions of other pensioners, have seen their winter fuel payment reinstated following a government U-turn on restricting the allowance.
“Obviously we’ve got it for the cold months. We’ve got the central heating on more. It’s made a big difference. You know it’s coming, so it’s your standby,” said Mr Jones.
James Jones and his wife Christine flank his mum Evelyn Williams and stepdad Harry
But the Warrington couple are still cutting back on luxuries to cover bills.
“We get a rise on our pension but it gets taken off you by food, petrol and everything else going up all the time so really you don’t benefit,” he said.
There is some hope on the horizon in spring, though. In the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said some levies placed on energy bills would go, lowering bills for millions of households by £150 a year from April.
That included cutting a scheme that was designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions, as well as shifting some costs onto general taxation.
People on fixed deals in April would still benefit from the changes, the government has confirmed.
However, about £30 will be knocked off those annual savings from April to pay for maintaining gas networks and strengthening the electricity transmission network.
There are also signs of lower wholesale costs, paid by suppliers.
Analysts at energy consultancy Cornwall Insight predict an 8% drop in the price cap in April – the equivalent of a fall of £138 to £1,620 a year for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity.
Lundin Mining Announces Updated Share Capital and Completes Share Buyback for 2025
December 31, 2025
VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 31, 2025 /CNW/ – (TSX: LUN) (Nasdaq Stockholm: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation (“Lundin Mining” or the “Company”) reports the following updated share capital and voting rights, in accordance with the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act.
The number of issued and outstanding shares of the Company decreased by 1,399,950 to 854,347,591 common shares with voting rights as of December 31, 2025. The decrease in the number of issued and outstanding shares from November 30, 2025 to date is the result of share buybacks completed under the normal course issuer bid (“NCIB”), offset by the exercise of employee stock options or the vesting of employee share units.
Normal Course Issuer Bid
The Company is committed to delivering shareholder returns through a balanced approach of dividends and share buybacks. In 2025, Lundin Mining acquired 15,088,180 common shares at a cost of approximately US$150 million, completing its targeted annual allocation of approximately US$150 million in annual share buybacks through its NCIB program.
About Lundin Mining
Lundin Mining is a Canadian mining company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada with four operating mines in Brazil, Chile and the USA. We produce commodities that support modern infrastructure and electrification. Our strategic vision is to become a top ten global copper producer. To get there, we are executing a clear growth strategy, which includes advancing one of the world’s largest copper, gold, and silver projects in the Vicuña District on the border of Argentina and Chile, where we hold a 50% interest. Lundin Mining has a proven track record of value creation through resource growth, operational excellence, and responsible development. The Company’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (LUN) and Nasdaq Stockholm (LUMI). Learn more at www.lundinmining.com.
The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below on December 31, 2025 at 16:00 Pacific Time.
SOURCE Lundin Mining Corporation
For further information, please contact: Stephen Williams, Vice President, Investor Relations: +1 604 806 3074; Robert Eriksson, Investor Relations Sweden: +46 8 440 54 50
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When Zach Sutton drives down the street in his Chrysler minivan, it’s hard to know if he’s coming or going.
The Detroit man drives Bak2Bak, his name for what he created when he welded the front ends of two vehicles together. The front half is an old 1993 Dodge Caravan, the back a 1991 Plymouth Voyager. Combined, they look like two conjoined vehicles that could drive in either direction.
The clincher: the front half vehicle was built in Canada, the latter in the U.S.
For Sutton, who works in the Detroit auto industry alongside Windsorites who cross the border, it’s an unexpected bit of vehicular diplomacy.
WATCH | Two-headed minivan heads through downtown Windsor:
‘BAK2BAK’ minivan turns heads in Windsor
Detroiter Zach Sutton speaks to CBC Windsor about his unique vehicle fashioned from two halves of ’90s minivans.
“It’s a model for what we could want to be, in a weird way,” said Sutton, after driving to Windsor to speak with CBC News.
“Working well together as brother and sister countries.”
Sutton crossed the border for the first time with his franken-car on Tuesday. No stranger to tinkering, the 29-year-old mechanical engineer is part of the Detroit Freakbike Experience, a group that builds bicycles using unexpected parts and designs.
Sutton hollowed out the trunk in the back half of the vehicle. Now it’s where he keeps his tools. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)
In addition to “crazy bike creations,” he does sewing, woodworking, metal working and “anything I can do with my hands.”
Sutton says he thought up building the vehicle with two front ends because he likes car projects, but they tend to be “a little insular, so I wanted something everyone could appreciate and understand.”
“Silliness and whimsy is something that’s universally appreciated.”
Sutton’s welded vehicle has vanity plates. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)
He built the vehicle over three days at the i3detroit community workshop in Ferndale, a maker space where people with engineering-oriented minds make creative projects. There, Sutton used a laser to split the vehicles in half.
When he put the two front pieces together, “they matched almost perfectly,” he said. “It was very satisfying.”
Bob Katovich, a fellow builder at the community workshop space and member of the Detroit Freakbike Experience, helped Sutton with the division.
“We had to remove everything from the inside and basically dismantle everything,” Katovich said. Once the vans were cut in half, “we had to figure out what to do with the back halves.” They loaded them onto a pickup truck, which was “kind of a surreal, ridiculous experience.”
Sutton removed everything from under the hood of the Voyager. Its headlights became the vehicle’s taillights. The steering on the rear vehicle is locked out, so it all drives like a regular vehicle. The fuel tank is in the Voyager’s engine bay.
Sutton says he made the vehicle over three days at a community workshop space in Ferndale. (Mike Evans/CBC)
There are only two-seat belts, Sutton says. Four people could fit into the vehicle off road, but it would be a tight fit.
At the border, he says, the passage was easy. The guards just asked him “the usual questions.”
When people see it, he says, they’re “either super confused” or “laugh and take pictures.”
“The second day I had it on the road, someone took it and put it on Instagram and it got millions of views,” he said.
“I didn’t really build it for anyone else except for me. I just wanted to drive around and have fun with it.“
