Mining Investment Risk Assessment for Nations along the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) continues to advance, the proportion of China’s investment in mineral resources has increased yearly. However, the current research on mineral resources investment risk mainly focuses on specific resources or combinations of minerals. There is still a lack of risk assessment research regarding mineral resources as a whole, which leads to the lack of appropriate methods for decision makers to consider the overall investment risk. This research establishes a six-dimension (6-D) investment evaluation indicator system to comprehensively assess the mineral resources, including political, economic, social, resource potential, environmental risks, and China factors, and 50 countries were studied. Various mineral resources are integrated into the resource potential dimension for quantitative risk assessment calculations. The entropy–fuzzy method determines the indicator’s weights and calculates the risk assessment. The results indicate that resource potential is the main determinant of overseas mineral resources investment. The outcomes show that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Russia are ideal for China’s mineral resources investment. The findings provide a theoretical and methodological basis for the further macroscopic study of mineral resources investment risk between countries.