a person involved in exploration, esp of oil, gas, etc
explorationist in American English
(ˌekspləˈreiʃənɪst)
noun
a person who searches for new sources of oil, natural gas, etc.
Word origin
[exploration + -ist]-ist is a suffix of nouns, often corresponding to verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism, that denote a person who practices or is concerned with something, or holds certainprinciples, doctrines, etc. Other words that use the affix -ist include: Thomist, apologist, dramatist, machinist, realist