The Catalão I Complex belongs to the Alto Paranaíba alkaline-carbonatitic province.

Accumulations of apatite are mainly associated with lateritic processes. A weathering mantle more than 100 m thick was developed over the intrusive body, and contains abundant residual apatite, pyrochlore, monazite, Ti-bearing minerals (perovskite, ilmenite, and anatase), and vermiculite. The intrusion consists of dunite, pyroxenite, phoscorite, phlogopitite, carbonatite and volcaniclastic rocks.

The Brazilian phosphate industry has made great efforts to develop technology for the production of phosphates from slimes. The first industrial application was in the Araxá concentrator in the beginning of the 1980s, in a circuit consisting of desliming in 40 mm hydrocyclones and apatite flotation in column machines. This technology has been upgraded since 1984 by means of significant improvements in the desliming operation, concerning equipment and process control, utilization of a more adequate reagent system, and the use of flotation machines that provide improved performance and metallurgical yield. The concept of this process was still expanded to other Brazilian plants located in Catalão (Goiás state), Tapira (Minas Gerais state), and Cajati (São Paulo state) in the 1990s. It is estimated that the apatite concentrate from slimes represents 11% to 13% of the overall production. The apatite concentrate grade achieved from slimes are P2O5 at 33.0–35%; Fe2O3 at 3.0–6.5%; Al2O3 at 0.4–1.0%; MgO at 0.1–1.6%, and SiO2 at 1.5–5.5%.

At Catalao produced concentrate contains 34.2% of P2O5.