Noise produced by mining the seabed could interfere with whales' ability to communicate with one another, according to a study released on Tuesday, just as plans to start deep-sea mining for battery metals gather pace. READ | Close to 60 000 jobs can be created if SA fires up battery production - analysisMining is likely to produce noise across a range of frequencies that could travel hundreds of kilometres, the study said, interfering with marine mammals' ability to navigate using echolocation and disrupting the messages they send via whale song. "Far-from-sight impacts on cetaceans could go largely unquantified and unnoticed, along with those on other pelagic predator species that rely on deep ocean areas, including sharks," the authors wrote