Aqueous mineral dispersions

In a process for the production of solid articles from vermiculite comprising the steps of:

• (a) delaminating vermiculite ore until vermiculite lamellae having dimensions less than 200 microns is produced, then
• (b) forming shaped articles from an aqueous dispersion of the lamellae produced in step (a) by depositing the vermiculite lamellae on a surface and removing the water
• wherein the improvement comprises mechanically delaminating the vermiculite ore in one step by subjecting n aqueous slurry of the ore to a shearing action until vermiculite lamellae having dimensions less than 200 microns is produced.

In a process for the production of solid articles from layer-silicate mineral ore comprising the steps of:

• (a) delaminating the layer-silicate mineral ore until layer-silicate mineral lamellae having dimensions less than 200 microns is produced, than
• (b) forming shaped articles from an aqueous dispersion of the lamellae produced in step (a) by depositing the layer-silicate mineral lamellae on a surface and removing the water from said lamellae,
• wherein the improvement comprises mechanically delaminating the layer-silicate mineral ore in one step by subjecting an aqueous slurry of the ore containing from about 10 percent to about 80 percent by weight of ore solids to a shearing action until layer-silicate mineral lamellae having dimensions less than 200 microns is produced.