It's been a long time since I played Darklands, but if I remember right, monasteries were also libraries trying to preserve and copy books written in latin.
I'd like to also suggest the University. This building has practice reactions for doctors and is the place where you research technology improvements. The Formula for Smokeless Powder would be used in reactions to make better ammo than your guns use by default, and can be used to research Fixed Cartriges which leads to Breach-Loading Firearms (a higher tier of guns) which then leads to the Ammo Press which has reactions to make ammo more efficiently and in larger quantities than the old way. Ring Bayonette would be used in a reaction that changes a gun to a different gun that has a bayonette attack for when you run out of ammo.
Boiling Oil? Grenades?
I'm not sure if grenades are possible, maybe transform into a Grenadier caste with an interaction that works that way. Maybe a firebomb thrower could work that way too. Call him the Arsonist.
Mining Suggestions:
Mine building is expensive to make, each reaction uses consumable tools made for mining (general mining supplies) and wood (to support the mineshaft), and uses a % chance for the evaporating stone trick to make mining dangerous.
Mining works by Surveys (tools or toys). If you don't have any surveys, then you can only do Exploratory Mining. This consumes a lot of tools and wood and has a high chance of wounding or killing the miner through syndromes. It produces several boulders of random stone and ores and has a chance of producing various types of Surveys. Common or low value metals have a high chance of being surveyed, more valuble and usefull stuff have lower chances. A Raw Copper Survey would be about 40%, Iron Ore Survey at about 20%, Native Gold Survey at 5% and so on. 1% would be for rare stuff like burried vaults, lost tombs, forgotten ruins, and burried pirate treasure (basically this takes the place of the dwarves' fossils).
When you have say an Iron Ore Survey, there is an automatic reaction at the mine that uses that survey and some consumables to produce 4-6 iron ore boulders with a 95% chance of giving you another Iron Ore Survey and maybe a 5% chance of getting another survey for something else.
The rare 1% stuff will give you one or more items that must be identified at the monastery. This can be Antique Furniture (high value metal, wood, or stone), coins or toys of rare metal, relics of lost saints. Or maybe a small chance of it being something unholy that unleashes a terrible plague, or transforms the monk into something demonic.