When members of different ethnic groups share a superordinate goal of working together to obtain mineral resources, intergroup cooperation is facilitated and hostility is moderated. This paper shows that both interethnic contact and mining activity increase the probability of armed conflict when analyzed separately at the cell-year level. However, the combined effect of interethnic contact and mining activity significantly mitigates the chance of conflict. In some cases, the overall effect is negative, resulting in a reduction in armed conflict. A variety of identification strategies are used and results are robust to alternate specifications, which suggests that the relationship is causal.
