the owners of the land do not own the mineral rights, that would...

the owners of the land do not own the mineral rights, that would be SUV. As with most miners the land owner agrees a deal to “sell” easy cooperation and access to the land although technically the owner cannot stop the miner accessing for mining operations. This land is very low grade sheep country and I doubt the landowners are making any profit farming it. The amount of royalty they get will add up very nicely with bulk amounts being mined and they have to be realistic about the royalty otherwise companies will just talk to the neighbour. For the farmer it is a win win, no effort, no cost and a passive income from their previous low value land. Just because a miner offers you a bigger royalty, does not mean you get it as the miner has a lot of work and hurdles to jump to get it to production so farmer can access that royalty. SUV have the experts in all the appropriate areas, technical, managerial, financial and drive to make this happen unlike a lot of other wannabes