They could; accumulate what shares they can based on the volume...

They could; accumulate what shares they can based on the volume that’s for sale on the market, that would take a while to accumulate anything of decent value (and will never get you 100% of the company, and take even longer without moving the price significantly). Or put an offer in to buy the company outright, but given the future value of the project (which the JV is partly based on) the board (who have the backing of the major shareholders, some of which are on the board…) would likely reject any unreasonable buyout offer. The most reasonable option for them would be to buy out 1 or more existing major shareholder, and of the top 20-30 holders who’s selling to them off market at this time/price? It would have to be a strange set of circumstances that would cause someone to agree to sell at the near worst time to do so given current project position.