Councillor Eddie Hughes said he had maintained for a number of years that the serious physical expansion of the OneSteel harbour to accommodate the growth of mining industry was a "no-brainer".

"In January 2008 I initiated a meeting between the Whyalla City Council and OneSteel to express the view that there would be strong council and community support for the expansion of the harbour," he said.

"It is a project that would unite our community instead of dividing our community."

Cr Hughes said it was a "sensible proposition" making use of an existing industrial site with unused or underused land.

"Especially given the site is already serviced by rail from the north and potentially there is a rail corridor to the west," he said.

Cr Hughes said OneSteel was conducting investigations at its own costs rather than spending public's money with "potential handouts".

Cr Hughes said he was confident the port expansion at OneSteel would go ahead.

"It would appear to make far more sense commercially than building a new port from scratch in the middle of the most important part of the cuttlefish aggregation on the Point Lowly Peninsula," he said.

"I find it amazing that elements of the bureaucracy in Adelaide were willing to turn a globally significant environmental site that attracts major documentary makers and generates positive publicity for the state into just another industrial site when there are clear alternatives.

"It reflects a mind set that is frozen over a quarter of a century in the past and it's a mind set that we need to challenge as a community.

Cr Hughes said the Point Lowly Peninsula is the front door step of the Upper Spencer Gulf.

"It has far more value for our community as an environmental and recreational resource," he said.