Diphasic gels were prepared by a precipitated process from the mixed solutions of colloidal silica and aluminium nitrate. High-purity stoichiometric mullite powders were produced by calcination of the products of these gels, with an exothermic reaction occurring at 1300~ The chemical and structural evolutions, as a function of thermal treatment, have been characterized by differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. The components of the co-precipitated gels react independently with increasing temperature up to the formation of mullite. The composition of mullite also varies with the temperature of thermal treatment. The calcined powders treated by ball-milling could be sintered into a high-density body, in spite of the occurrence of a small amount of glassy phase during sintering.