To day they increase the price of fuel and goods. In the deep interior, the most existing roads are private and belong to the logging companies for their transportation of wood. Most of the population is concentrated along the river banks. The huge tropical forest products, f.i. logs which are floated down river and processed into timber and plywood on the coast, rattan processed into carpets and furniture and also rubber introduced from the Amazon at the end of the 19th century, are the main export items. Geological exploration found important deposits of iron, uranium and petroleum, but considerable investments in roads and communications must take place before mining can begin.
Gold lies in important gold bearing veins in primary deposits in the mountains.
The veins are broken down by intensive weathering into auriferous clay, which is carried downstream by the tropical downpours. Back breaking labour and luck can result in gold bits until 24 carats. After independence in 1950, the central government decided to combine into one province the heavily Islamic area of Benjarmasin in Kalsel and the Dayaks dominated region to the West. The Dayaks objected, wishing to be in a province of their own, to save their cultural identity. To avoid a long ambush war the government established the province Kalteng .