Oh yeah this story is incredible. There is evidence that these expeditions made it to north America. iirc the word for spear in Taino is the same as the word was in Mali at the time, and there were spearheads found in Taino territory that had the same unique blend of three different metals that were used in Mali at the time. So the theory is that these Malian explorers made it to north America, traded with locals and eventually integrated into communities in North America long before colonizers showed up

Edit: here's a fun lecture on the topic