THE Australian bases of breeding giants Coolmore and Darley are celebrating another victory this week over the mining industry.

For the fourth time the New South Wales planning authority has rejected an application to develop a open-cut mine at Drayton South, less than a kilometre from the Coolmore and Darley farms in the Hunter Valley region.

Local planning minister Anthony Roberts is now instructing his department officials to draw up guidelines limiting the number of times that plans for a development such as Drayton South can be submitted. Basil Nolan, president of Australia’s Thoroughbred Breeders Association, said: “All breeders should welcome this decision as it recognises that the Hunter is one of the most important thoroughbred regions in the world. If the mine had been given the go-ahead it would have damaged the reputation of the region and the Australian industry as a whole.”

The TBA wants the state government to place clear protection zones around the key thoroughbred farms to protect the breeding industry.

Tom Reilly, chief executive of TBA, said: “This saga has gone on for six years and has been incredibly divisive. For the future of all businesses in the region the state government should step in and create clear boundaries for different land use.”

He added: “Until they do that there remains the possibility that another application could be made for Drayton South, causing further uncertainty to breeders and all land users. In its decision to reject the mining application, the planning authority said the stud farms would be adversely affected by air quality and blast noise from the mine.

“The project is incompatible with the particular nature, operations and requirements of existing land uses — and the medium to long-term sustainability of the equine critical industry cluster would be detrimentally impacted.”

Anglo wanted to mine 73 million tonnes of coal over 15 years at Drayton South, an extension of its Drayton mine, which closed last year with the loss of 500 jobs.