Companies deliberately cause more damage to signal to the market that the resource is running out

Renewable resources naturally become toxic as their quantity decreases in the ecosystem

Governments typically lower environmental regulations as resources become scarce to encourage mining

Extraction becomes more intensive, requiring deeper drilling or the processing of lower-grade materials

The ecosystem becomes immune to human activity

Natural replenishment stops being necessary

Resource quality immediately improves

Regeneration slows down and depletion accelerates

Because the government is forced to increase subsidies for luxury imports

Because resource extraction becomes more labor-intensive when prices are low

Because lower prices encourage too much foreign investment in the currency

Because falling export earnings weaken national income and economic stability

To maximize the speed of resource extraction

To ensure that resource prices remain low for consumers

To eliminate the need for any environmental regulations

To evaluate potential ecological damage before a project begins