MADISON - A hotly contested mining bill has narrowly passed the Senate and will now move to the Assembly.

A state Senate debate on the controversial Republican bill that would overhaul Wisconsin's mining regulations was picked up just after noon on Wednesday, and didn't wrap up for nearly nine hours.

The bill has been contested for quite some time. Republicans blocked a Democratic effort Wednesday afternoon to rewrite a bill to ease mining regulations.

"The bill is designed to ease the regulatory path for a giant iron mine just south of Lake Superior," according to the Associated Press. "Republicans maintain the mine would create hundreds of jobs. Democrats and environmentalists say the bill is a corporate give-away and the mine will pollute the pristine region."

The bill passed 17-16.