The Australian share market may be taking a tumble on Wednesday but that hasn't stopped some ASX shares from shooting higher.

Two ASX mining shares that are recording stellar gains today are listed below. Here's why they are hurtling higher:

Legacy Minerals Holdings Ltd (ASX: LGM)

The first ASX mining share that is recording a strong gain today is this gold explorer.

The Legacy Minerals share price is currently up 22% to 19.5 cents but was up as much as 53% at one stage. This has been driven by the release of "remarkable" drilling results from the Bauloora Epithermal Gold Project in New South Wales.

Commenting on the results, CEO and managing director, Christopher Byrne, said:

The Legacy Minerals team is pleased to confirm a remarkable discovery at the Bauloora Epithermal Gold Project of low sulphidation epithermal veins and breccia across an extensive strike of the Mee Mar Prospect vein trend. This project's scale is demonstrated by the fact that every diamond drill hole testing the strike of the Mee Mar vein intercepted epithermal veins and breccia – delivering a continuous strike of 1,500m which remains open to the north, south and at depth.

Petratherm Ltd (ASX: PTR)

This ASX mining share is up 13% to 7.9 cents currently but was up 40% to 9.8 cents at one point.

Investors have been bidding the Petratherm share price higher following the release of an update on rare earth (REE) drill results from the Meteor Prospect, located in the Comet Project Area of the Northern Gawler Craton of South Australia.

According to the release, drilling that was undertaken during December has delivered "encouraging results." Petratherm's CEO, Peter Reid, commented:

The Meteor Prospect results are highly encouraging, demonstrating excellent clay hosted rare earth grades, intercept thicknesses and continuity between drill holes. The mineralisation starts at just a few metres below surface in the soft weathering profile allowing the potential for low-cost free dig mining. The shallow clay hosted mineralisation has formed over a layered mafic complex and potential remains for additional rare earths in the basement rock below.

The post Guess which ASX mining shares are soaring 40% or more on new discoveries appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is lifting 0.66% today, but three ASX mining shares are rocketing far higher.

Demetallica Ltd (ASX: DRM), Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) and Petratherm Ltd (ASX: PTR) shares are all rising.

So why are these ASX mining shares surging?

Demetallica

The Demetallica share price is exploding 40% today on the back of takeover news. AIC Mines Limited (ASX: A1M) is proposing to acquire Demetallica. AIC Mines is offering Demetallica shareholders one AIC Mines share for every 1.5 Demetallica shares.

Demetallica's Jericho deposit at the Chimera Polymetal Project is adjacent to AIC Mines' Eloise copper mine. AIC Mines managing director Aaron Colleran said "combining these assets will provide the quickest and most efficient means of developing and mining the Jericho deposit".

Lake Resources

Lake Resources shares are soaring 13% today. The lithium miner's shares are rocketing following news of the Kachi Lithium Project in Argentina. Following a recent dispute on key milestones with project partner Lilac Solutions, Lake advised all parties are now confident that on-site operations will be successful.

Dry commissioning of the demonstration plant started last Wednesday. Wet commissioning is expected by this Thursday, while onsite processing of Kachi brines is forecast to start in the first week of October. Lake is also advancing offtake discussions, with new appointments to the Lake board also at the final stages of consideration.

Petratherm

Petratherm shares are soaring nearly 19% today. Petratherm is exploring multiple projects including the Comet Rare Earth Element (REE) and gold project and Muckanippie REE project in South Australia.

Petratherm has not released any price-sensitive news today. However, the company has re-released its company presentation, "critical mineral portfolio positioned for growth" with a slight modification. In the presentation, Petratherm highlights its recent exploration results and projects. Petratherm said:

The company is in a strong position with the discovery of major high-grade rare earth occurrences at shallow depth in the Northern Gawler Craton of South Australia and is working towards defining initial JORC Resources over the coming months.

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