Humanity has reaped great benefits from mining. Over the millennia that humans have practiced mining there have been many obvious improvements in mining's environmental and social impacts. However, some aspects of mining still involve an element of ecological violence1 and, in Australia, there is a growing amount of conflict concerned with mining. These two related issues - 'ecological violence' and 'conflict' - were explored at the 'Mining in a Sustainable World' conference on 13 to 15 October 2013 at the University of New England campus in Armidale, Australia. The conference was a joint initiative of the discipline of Peace Studies within the University of New England's School of Humanities, and the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law. Specifically, conference delegates were interested in exploring the work being done to reduce ecological violence and conflict. Articles in this special edition of the International Journal of Rural Law and Policy arose from that conference. This editorial provides an overview of the rationale for the conference and the issues explored.