"exclusion of mines and minerals" in the title of the property that I'm buying

BraveStave

I'm in the process of buying a house and am just about to exchange contracts and agree completion dates.

And I've just been sent all of the final paperwork, i.e. the contract/agreement and title documents etc.

In the title document there is an "exclusion of mines and minerals" clause.

The actual wording is:

There are excluded from the registration of the land tinted in blue on the title plan the mines and minerals excepted by the Conveyance dated 3 February 1976

and 

"Excepting and reserving unto the board the right to any mines and minerals under the property hereby conveyed except in so far as the same were expressly conveyed to the Board's predecessors in title and are not now vested in the National Coal Board"

The land 'tinted blue' on the title plan, mentioned in the first quote, cuts halfway through the land of the property.

My understanding is that this relates to the fact that I don't own the minerals under the property and that someone else technically owns the minerals and the right to mine them.

There is a long history of mining in the area but these mines obviously aren't worked anymore.

Although this sounds worrying, is it correct that this is a fairly common thing in the UK and not something to really worry about? 

user1977

BraveStave said:

is it correct that this is a fairly common thing in the UK and not something to really worry about? 

Correct. Nobody's going to start mining under your house.

Archie_Duke

user1977 said:

BraveStave said:

is it correct that this is a fairly common thing in the UK and not something to really worry about? 

Correct. Nobody's going to start mining under your house.

Never say never! 

Although the mining of the likes of tin and copper mainly ended in Cornwall in the 19th century, with just a small handful of mines such as South Crofty, Geevor and Levant struggling on for slightly longer, we may see new mining for metals to power the technology age of the 21st century.

Several companies have recently started prospecting in Cornwall to extract Lithium for the booming EV battery market. One is surveying very close to where I live and they are expected to make maximum use of ‘grandfather rights’ (like your example covenant) to work underground from fairly small plots of land to explore beneath adjacent properties and settlements. Others up in the china clay areas near St Austell are carrying out both hard-rock exploration and attempting reclamation from historical mining spoil. Hopefully we won’t see again the levels of plunder of the resources that went on in previous centuries and left areas incredibly heavily contaminated, maybe this time more ecological minds will rule!

https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/1e0940a3-1ca3-4202-9c6d-82716a30d690/?context=1519360&federationidp=G9JC5W59630

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cornwall-lithium

nimbo

I paid £27 for a lifetime indemnity policy for mining rights. 

Frankly may have been a bit of a con. But I can safely say with the exception of gold (all belongs to the queen) no fooker can mine on my loans for nuffink. 

nimbo

To clarify. I also live in a mining area. It seemed it may have been a thing.