WDIO Created: July 14, 2021 06:41 AM A $110 million dollar investment in the future of Minntac is now complete, and already helping make pellets. A multi-year project included six shovel rebuilds and two brand new shovel builds. Jay Sanders, who's known as Colonel around the mine, was in shovel 9 on Wednesday, which is one of the rebuilds. "Anytime the company invests, is a good sign," he told us. Minntac celebrated their shovel rebuild project on Wednesday, with the final shovel ready to start work on Friday. WDIO Mike Bakk, the Reliability Director for U.S. Steel Minnesota Ore Operations, said the rebuilds will add 15+ years to the life of the shovels. "We're very excited to see this happen. They did add things to improve safety for the operators and the maintenance folks. Plus they're more productive and more reliable now."