Mineral additives for setting and/or controlling the rheological properties and gel structure of aqueous liquid phases and the use of such additives

An additive for adjusting the rheology and gel strength of aqueous liquid phases, said additive consisting essentially of:

• (A) rheology controllers selected from the group consisting of compounds conforming to general formula I below:
• M.sup.II.sub.a M.sup.III.sub.b (OH).sub.2a+3b-n-m A.sup.n.sub.m(I),
• wherein M.sup.II represents one or more divalent cations selected from the group consisting of Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Ba, Sr, Fe, Mn and Co;
• M.sup.III represents one or more trivalent cations selected from the group consisting of Al, Fe, Cr and Ga;
• A represents an anionic moiety with a valency of n;
• a represents a number from 2 to 4;
• b represents a number from 1 to 3;
• each of m and n is a number;
• the ratio of a to b is in the range from 1:1 to 3:1 and the product n.multidot.m is a number from 0 to about 6, said rheology controllers having a three dimension space lattice structure of the garnet type and at least one of the following components:
• (B) an amount of swellable clay, swellable layer silicates, or both that is equal to from 2 to 25% by weight of the rheology controller present;
• (C) an amount of crystalline monolayer structure mixed metal layered hydroxide compounds that is equal to from 5 to 20% of the total of rheology controller, swellable clay, and swellable layer silicates present;
• and
• (D) an amount of a component selected from the group consisting of basic metal oxides and hydroxides that is equal to from 2 to 100% of the amount of rheology controller present.