Ann: Tawana & Alliance to Merge and Capital Raising & SIA, page-196

That is probably the plan all along, first move everything into one company to make it easier to control it then take it over for a few peanuts. IMO if the merger is allowed to happen the mine will end up in OS hands on the cheap like they did with Talison. Unlike the brine operations our hard rock lithium mine will be able to put up reliable supply of Li no matter the weather. Read below the announcement put up by ORE and you'll see what makes TAW, AJM & PLS so desirable and the recent desire to control them.

" Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE, TSX: ORL) (“Orocobre” or “the Company”) provides an update on lithium production at Olaroz.
Production for the March quarter was 2,802 tonnes, down 29% from 3,937 tonnes in the December quarter. Sales were 3,052 tonnes with a record realised average price up 17% on the December quarter to US$13,533 per tonne on a FOB basis and record total sales revenue of US$41.3 million. Unit cost of sales for the quarter has not yet been
finalised but will be higher than the previous quarter due to the lower production. Despite the increased unit costs, gross cash margins are expected to be higher than the December quarter (US$7,604 per tonne). The lower production rate in the March quarter was due to evaporation rates that were 24% below those in 2017
with reduced solar radiation from cloudy conditions and above normal rainfall. In particular, the February mean evaporation rate was the lowest recorded since 2011 and less than half that of February 2017 resulting in lower than expected brine concentrations at the beginning of March. Concentrations improved during March but did not recover to the level expected, affecting production performance during this period."

I guess that's another nail in the coffin of oversupply prediction made by Morgan Stanley. Not that any of that production was going to see the sunlight for at least another 5 years.