Conrad's use of synonyms for the mine suggest meanings beyond the surface one.
The "Gould Concession" also represents Charles Gould's personal surrender
to idealism, which certainly goes on "working"; during the war he will
permit himself to be led out to a firing squad rather than compromise his ideal.
The doctrine of "Imperium in Imperio," suggesting autonomous
units of authority within society, all the way down to the individual man, will
go on "working," too: Conrad will use the Monterist war to illustrate
the fragmentation of a society.