Abstract:  “Going out” for overseas mineral resource exploitation is an arduous and complex task, many difficulties may be faced, and doing a good job in the strategic area selection is the first and foremost task.Based on the principle of the strategic area selection for foreign iron ore resource exploitation, firstly, the expert investigation method was used to identify the main risk factors, and then a risk assessment index system including 15 second-level indexes was established, the weight of which was determined by the Delphi method; secondly, the 15 second-level indexes were classified, and a risk assessment model was established; thirdly, 8 countries whose iron ore resource is rich are assessed.The research results show that:the risk assessment model can be used for the strategic area selection overseas iron ore resource exploitation, which can provide corresponding decision supports for the mining enterprises and government to carry out overseas iron ore resources exploitation.

Key words: Iron ore resource, Overseas exploitation, Strategic area selection, Risk assessment