At the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, experts Dr. Pippa Malmgren, Dr. Pascal Lottaz and Colonel Douglas Macgregor discussed the impact of geopolitics on the resource sector. Dr. Malmgren highlighted that current conflicts are taking place in areas such as space, the Arctic and the Baltic, rather than traditional land battles. While he believes that the situation in Ukraine may be coming to an end, he warned of intensifying technological competition in areas such as quantum computing, nanotechnology and space. He also mentioned incidents such as the cutting of the world's fastest Internet cable near Svalbard, Norway, as examples of this new form of conflict.

Dr. Pascal Lottaz emphasized the importance of framing current conflicts as "security competitions" rather than wars, as this better reflects the nature of the rivalries between the United States, Russia and China. According to Lottaz, these competitions are taking place in a number of areas, including technology, and although they are currently limited to actions such as cutting undersea cables, there is a danger that tensions could escalate and lead to open conflict. Lottaz also expressed concern that some factions may no longer regard nuclear war as an unthinkable scenario, which could destabilize the global balance.

Colonel Douglas Macgregor criticized exorbitant U.S. defense spending and warned of a potential economic crisis due to the "hugely inflated bubble" of the U.S. economy. Macgregor advised conference attendees to invest in physical assets such as natural resources, which are valuable in times of geopolitical uncertainty. He also noted that the U.S. has lost its technology monopoly, which was evidenced when China's DeepSeek disrupted the technology sector and caused the shares of its U.S. rivals to fall.

Overall, the experts agreed that the current geopolitical landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for the natural resources sector. While technological competition and geopolitical tensions can create uncertainty, they can also open up new opportunities for those prepared to adapt to this changing global environment.

Georgia Williams, INN Investment News Network