SOUR GRAPES
It turned out to be a battle between grapes and coal and the latter lost. Peabody Resources, a branch of Britain's Hanson group had to abandon its plans to develop a US $10,156 miflion coal mine in Australia's Hunter Valley, following a recent order given by the New South Wales land and environment court declaring the state's approval for the project as invalid. Peabody and Rosemount Estates, one of the best vineyards in the region, have been fighting a protracted battle over the Bengalla open-cut mine. Rosemount owns lands near the proposed mine site and expressed concerns about the environmental implications of the project.