Beyond the press release: WhyAfrica’s boots-on-the-ground approach
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Beyond the press release: WhyAfrica’s boots-on-the-ground approach
Having our boots on the ground provides us with context.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.
At WhyAfrica, when we say we “track” exploration and early-stage mining projects across the continent, we don’t mean recycling press releases or republishing company statements or presentations.
We really mean physically going there, on the ground, in the heat, dust, and grit of Africa’s most exciting frontier regions.
Our Hawk’s Eye column, a standout feature in WhyAfrica bi-weekly newsletter, highlights three promising prospects or countries that we believe deserve investor attention, not because a company or a specific country told us so, but because we’ve done the homework to draw our own conclusions.
The WhyAfrica Pick of the Week reflects a deeper level of engagement. We dissect drill results and with the help of the experts, try to read the geology in addition to interviewing management.
Immersive journalism
And we weigh all this up against broader geopolitical currents that shape the African mining narrative. What’s the use of echoing investor decks if you don’t know what’s in the ground, or who’s standing on it?
Over many years of being a mining journalist in Africa with a specific interest in geology and early-stage exploration, I’ve visited and reported about countless project sites, from the copper belts of Zambia, remote lithium and REE prospects in Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Namibia, gold projects in Nigeria, and critical mineral sites in the eastern DRC and Rwanda.
This immersive style of journalism was inspired early on by Tom Wolfe’s New Journalism, a school of thought that demanded journalists become part of the world they wrote about.
Wolfe believed in full immersion by journalist which will reflect in your end-product, and it’s a philosophy that I’ve carried with me especially when I entered the world of mining and exploration.
WhyAfrica tells the real story
In a world increasingly dominated by AI and digital tools (which we at WhyAfrica embrace and leverage) there’s still no replacement for first-hand experience.
Technology provides us with efficiency and reach, but it’s boots on the ground that give us insight. When we stand where a drill rig turns, speak to the people who live there, and assess the context with our own eyes, we tell a different kind of story.
On the back of that please remember that you can subscribe to our magazines and newsletter by visiting the WhyAfrica website: https://www.whyafrica.co.za/subscribe/
Earlier this week WhyAfrica published our 118th bi-weekly newsletter, which means we’ve consistently sent out our newsletter to subscribers for four years and seven months. Click on the link to read the 118th edition.
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By Leon Louw, founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine
#whyafricaroadtrips #whyafrica #bootsontheground #africa #investinafrica
Beyond the press release: WhyAfrica’s boots-on-the-ground approach
