The Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price closed out the week as a top performer amongst the ASX 200.
The rare earths producer's shares rocketed 25.85% higher last week to finish at $2.58 per share.
Why did the Lynas Corp share price surge last week?
Last week's Lynas Corp share price surge included a 10.70% boost on Thursday.
Speculation about a potential U.S. Army rare earths deal was the big catalyst for the group's share price moves.
An article from Reuters broke the news and Lynas could be in the frame as the biggest non-Chinese rare earths producer.
The U.S. Army is reportedly looking at investing in a commercial-scale rare earths production facility for weapons and electronics. That would be the military's first investment in this area since the World War Two Manhattan Project.
Given China's threats to restrict its rare earths exports, investors look to be speculating that Lynas Corp could have a role to play.
Lynas was the top-performing stock on the ASX 200 on Thursday as investors scrambled to get their hands on the group's shares.
As it turns out, Friday just continued on the momentum from Thursday's strong gains.
Lynas was also the best performing ASX 200 stock on Friday, climbing 10.70% higher.
The group also announced that it was choosing Kalgoorlie in Western Australia as its preferred site for a new cracking and leaching plant.
In what was a relatively quiet week for the ASX 200 on the company news front, Lynas Corp led the way and saw its share price rocket as a result.
How has Lynas performed in 2019?
It's been a somewhat hectic year for Lynas and its shareholders in 2019.
The Lynas Corp share price charged higher in March after receiving an unsolicited takeover proposal from Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES).
That deal was subsequently rejected as "opportunistic" by the Lynas Board as its share price had endured a slump.
The company has also been dealing with the Malaysian Government with regards to its licence to operate in the Asian nation.
All in all, the Lynas Corp share price has climbed 68.08% higher this year to be a significant outperformer amongst the ASX 200.
