I just rang up the Tax Office to find out about negative gearing
into mining stocks, and the guy at the other end said that if
they don't produce an income, then I can't, although I would be
able to write off the interest against the cost base of the
asset.  He did not have a privacy ruling to quote, just said that
it was like a block of land.

You got someone who told you a different story.

If I had gotten the same story as you, I would have in turn asked
about a company that just owned a block of land.

Which story is likely to be true?

BFN.  Paul.
@EOT:

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