Thanks for that information, trades82.  I went back to the 20 October 2020 News Release and found the following quote:

"The ATM Program is being launched pursuant to the Canadian Base Prospectus and its corresponding filing with the SEC of the U.S. Base Prospectus and Registration Statement. Such filings qualify the Company to offer common shares, preferred shares, warrants, subscription receipts, debt securities and units, or any combination thereof, having an aggregate offering price of up to US$500,000,000 over the course of the next 25 months, with further details for any particular offering to be established in a prospectus supplement filed with the securities commissions in each of the provinces and territories of Canada and the SEC at the time of such offering."

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My own interpretation of the ATM offering is that it was only a particulate in the aggregate of the original 25 September 2020 Shelf Offering and fullfills that proposal in part only and that LAC can do further Offerings at their discretion up to the full $500 Million USD amount stated back in the document dated 25 September 2020.  I could easily misunderstand the whole matter, but until I see something definitely in contradistinction to that view from the company in written form then my view through the FOG that has been generated from management remains as I have stated.  

The IR response to your inquiry seems at least a little strange on a couple of points, the $500 Million USD Shelf Filing doesn't appear to be abrogated in that 20 October 2020 announcement and the 20 October 2020 PR still refers to "over the course of the next 25 months" whereas the original $500 Million  USD Shelf Filing had a date of origin almost a month earlier on 25 September 2020 and, unless specifically modified or deleted, would not expire until 25 October of 2022.  An official change in the end date of that filing would also ential some sort of additional official filing and not just an oral communication from the IR Department spokesman.

Now, I guess it depends on your view of what it is that the IR Department is supposed to accomplish.  My view of the IR Department of any company is that they are, above all, a buffer to serve between the requests for information by the stock owners and the management of the company and that their ultimate loyalty resides with anything dictated from management. 

I don't view them as always providing a clear lens to the stock holders on issues that might currently be out of focus and require clarity from the standpoint of the investors viewpoint.  That is just a charitable way of saying that I believe they relate events according to whatever it is that management wants to convey and not necessarily in the way of what the reality is at the moment for the company.

Maybe someone else can sort this out, but in view of what the PR person told you in respect to the wording of the 20 October 2020 PR it seems to be a little confusing.  I'm not at all sure that clarity on the part of LAC investors was the desired goal by LAC management regarding the Shelf Offering vs the ATM offering. Remember that LAC management is the same management that changes specific goal post dates without any explanation to investors, so less than perfect clarity seems to be a pattern. 

I am not suggesting, by any means, that management's less than perfect clarity is a unique malady to only LAC management.  I suspect that the same virus that causes this unfortunate malady with LAC management is one that has infected most corporate managements, especially mining company managements.  It is, in my viewpoint at least, the "FOG" with which investors of necessity have to continue to attempt to navigate.  It goes with the territory of being investors, LAC not being an exception to the rule. 

Please don't interpret my long way around the barn discourse above to reflect negatively on you in any way, not the least.  It should only be interpreted as intended: that the IR Department may be less than completely candid in this instance, either by design or by less than complete competence with respect to the existing 25 September 2020 filing information.  JMO 

My sincere thanks for not only your post, trades82, but also for your initiative in making the inquiry with the PR Department!

Okiedo