Extinct volcanoes are challenging to study due to their inactivity. Using experimental techniques, researchers recreated extinct volcanoes in a lab, discovering that some rare magma types efficiently concentrate rare earth elements, crucial for high-tech industries like electric vehicles and wind turbines. Despite their name, rare earths aren’t rare, but finding economically viable concentrations is difficult. New research in Geochemical Perspectives Letters suggests extinct volcanoes are promising sites. Iron-rich magma, known only from ancient extinct volcanoes like El Laco in Chile and Kiruna in Sweden, is key. Kiruna, a major iron ore mine, was recently identified as Europe’s largest rare earth resource.