who said the land is worth billions. You are conflating two...

who said the land is worth billions. You are conflating two topics. The gross value of the mineral asset and the value of the land. If SUV own the mineral rights (100% which they do), they own it 100% as the land owner only owns the top surface bit of land, not everything underneath it. This is a basic rule of mining, owning the land does not mean you own the mineral asset as in this case. The gross value of the mineral asset is exactly that gross and a long list of requirements, permits etc time and money has to be spent to get it to production. The farmer does not own the asset and certainly does not have the business, technical or professional knowledge to mine it. The farmer can go to any miner he likes but as de does not own the mineral rights why would they bother talking to him.