The mining industries' contribution to economies has been limited to the boomtown's impact of short-term initiatives. However, the bane of mining on resource management has been a recurring theme. This study recognizes the need to investigate the interrelationship among legitimate pressure, resource dependence, and green practices in the quest for sustainable resource management. The study categorized legitimate pressure into three distinct groups (coercive, normative, and mimetic pressure) and resource dependence into intra and inter-organizational resource dependence to assess the interrelationship among these constructs. We use both the structural model and the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach and 320 respondents from the Ghanaian mining industry. According to our findings, normative pressure does not influence the implementation of green mining policies without the two groups of resource dependencies acting as mediators.The findings from the fSQCA have shown that the combination of coercive pressure, normative pressure, inter-organizational resource dependencies, and intra-organizational resource dependencies is the best path toward sustainable resource management. The study contributes to the global efforts toward sustainable resource management. Policy and managerial implications are discussed. •Relationship among legitimate pressure, resource dependence, and green practices is investigated.•Both direct and configuration path analysis using fsQCA is conducted.•The best combination to achieve higher SRM is determined.•Mining firms should prioritize inter-organizational collaboration.