Risk assessment of overseas mineral investment using an integrated uncertain MCDM approach

Overseas mineral investment is a strategic necessity to alleviate domestic mineral resource constraints. Given the increasing complexity and uncertainty in the global economy, assessing multifactorial risks and selecting optimal mining investments presents a significant challenge for enterprises. This paper extends the gained and lost dominance score (GLDS) method to the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) environment, leveraging IVIF sets (IVIFS) to represent uncertainty and expert knowledge. Specifically, a novel accuracy function and a refined score function are proposed to enhance the distinction between interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IVIFNs). Building upon these, generalized score functions and a corresponding criteria weight-determination method are established. A case study of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. validates the feasibility of the proposed framework, which effectively mitigates the influence of extreme data and maintains high stability in rankings. Comparative analyses show that the method provides lower computational complexity and more rigorous normalization than existing techniques, offering a robust tool for mineral investment decisions in uncertain scenarios.