Australia has bought back most of a contentious mining licence issued for a huge Chinese-run coal mine near prime agricultural land, officials said Wednesday, but farmers are still not happy. Chinese company Shenhua was granted the original exploration licence for the Aus$1.0 billion (US$770 million) Watermark mine near Gunnedah in New South Wales state in 2008 by a previous Labor government. Large-scale mining in rural areas as well as foreign ownership of key agricultural and mineral assets are sensitive topics in Australia, with Canberra knocking back several sales in recent years citing national interest.