Metal carbonate particles dispersed in dodecane and stabilised with alkyl salicylate surfactants have been shown to aggregate when trace water is added. We have found that magnesium carbonate particles stabilised with a magnesium salicylate surfactant behave differently and display a gelation upon addition of water. We have observed two time scales of gel recovery after application of shear and hypothesise that this is due to gel formation and then a slow crystallisation. We will follow this gel recovery using SANS after in-situy application of shear.