Not sure about England but in Scotland (which is probably relevant to Aberdeen Angus) mineral rights can belong to somebody who is not the landowner by being "reserved" when the land is sold. It may have happened a hundred years ago and the rights can be sold on which can make finding the owner difficult. This separate ownership can cause huge problems if they have been reserved without there also being obligations created to pay for damage caused by subsidence when they are worked.
That aside the principal of ownership extending from the centre of the earth outwards in a cone applies in Scotland as in England (The legal principal of "a coelo usque ad centrum" if anybody is interested).
Apologies for drifting even further from the thread topic.