A group that will combine management and labor to promote mining in Minnesota will kick off Wednesday with a press conference in St. Paul.

The Iron Ore Alliance is a joint initiative of United States Steel and the United Steelworkers, and is being formed to "advocate for and support state policies that will provide United States Steel Corporation’s iron ore operations support to mine, employ and invest in Minnesota."

Gov. Mark Dayton and some members of the Legislature are scheduled to be at the launch event at noon Wednesday in the State Office Building.

The taconite industry has said that calls for reduction of sulfate and mercury levels from emissions could hurt their business and threaten jobs.

But organizers say:

U. S. Steel Minnesota Ore Operations, with its Minntac and Keetac facilities located in northeastern Minnesota, is the state’s largest iron ore producer, and a critical part of U. S. Steel’s raw material supply chain. Its Minntac facility in Mountain Iron is the single largest iron ore pelletizing operation in North America. U. S. Steel has been mining iron ore in Minnesota for more than a century.