HIBBING — A St. Louis County mine plans to unveil a giant pink truck Saturday as part of an effort to raise breast cancer awareness.

Reports said Hibbing Taconite mine will present its massive new truck in a parade of 60 miners. The 44-foot painted truck bed weighs almost 42 tons and sits on a 240-ton truck that will haul iron ore. Minnesota and Wyoming police escorted the truck bed across the country this week.

The mine will hold a July 17 ceremony at which the pink bed will be added to the truck. The Fairview Range Medical Center clinic will provide free breast and skin cancer screenings for two hours starting at 5 p.m.

The unusual truck project cost $200,000 and used 30 gallons of pink paint donated by Sherwin-Williams. The truck bed is expected to haul 12,000 loads of iron ore rock each year for three years before being replaced.

“We needed a new truck box. So we called our vendor to replace the box. And they asked ‘What color do you want?’ We thought, ‘Color? Oh, this is a great opportunity,”’ a spokeswoman for the mine’s parent company, Cliffs Natural Resources, tells the Star Tribune. “What better way to make a statement about a devastating illness than to put bright pink on a 240-ton production truck that will be seen by the thousands of people who visit Hibbing every year?’ “

The mine also ordered 200 pink safety vests and hats for miners to wear in the field.